Jake White feels Fiji gave timely warning to Ireland ahead of South Africa clash

Ireland struggled for fluency and briefly trailed during an uncomfortable opening period before running out 43-15 victors.

Jake White believes Fiji gave Ireland a wake-up call ahead of their clash with South Africa next week (Joe Giddens/PA) (PA Archive)

Fiji head coach Jake White believes his side gave Ireland a timely warning ahead of next weekend’s showdown with world champions South Africa.

Ireland ultimately ran out 43-15 victors against the Pacific Islanders on Saturday evening but struggled for fluency and briefly trailed during an uncomfortable opening period at a subdued Aviva Stadium.

Andy Farrell’s men remain in contention to reach the Nations Championship final, albeit they will require a vastly-improved performance if they are to topple the Springboks in Dublin next weekend.

Ireland were forced to work hard against Fiji (Brian Lawless/PA) (PA Wire)

“I think we probably did Ireland a favour today because I think Ireland know deep down if they play like that against South Africa they’re going to be up against it,” said White.

“South Africa, they will take the chances that we had. The five-metre line-outs that we didn’t take opportunities in and the five-metre scrum and tap penalties, South Africa will turn those into points.

“I’m sure Andy and the players will be aware of that.

“They’ve been around a long time and they know what’s coming, and that’s probably why he picked the team that he did because he wanted to make sure they get a little bit more gun-ready for next week.”

Ireland boss Farrell made seven personnel changes and two positional switches to his starting XV following last week’s convincing 42-12 win over Argentina, but insisted the selection was not experimental.

Quick-fire tries from Fiji pair Josua Tuisova and Peceli Yato overturned Tommy O’Brien’s early opener to raise the prospect of a major upset before Robert Baloucoune’s double restored some order.

Ronan Kelleher, Andrew Porter, O’Brien and Nick Timoney went over for Ireland in the second half after Ben Volavola’s penalty left them with a slender 17-15 half-time advantage.

South African White added: “The headline mustn’t read – Jake says Boks to smash Ireland! That’s definitely not what I’m saying.”

Ireland produced a stellar second-half performance (Brian Lawless/PA) (PA Wire)

Ireland are level on 20 points with second-placed England in the northern hemisphere standings – one point behind leaders France.

Farrell was satisfied to emerge from a stop-start contest with a “pretty precious” bonus-point victory.

“Pleased to get the win, especially the scoreline, I thought it flattered us a little bit,” he said.

“But having said that you’ve got to work for those points and find a way, especially when after 25 minutes you’re down by five points against a side that is playing pretty well as far as the physical nature of the game.

Andy Farrell was satisfied with Ireland’s victory over Fiji (Brian Lawless/PA) (PA Wire)

“I thought they were winning collisions, they were good in the air, good on the floor, running really physically through the line and their breakdown was pretty good.

“They were on a roll and when you’ve seen them like that before you’ve seen them take some big scalps.

“All in all, we need to understand that wins here when you’re under a bit of pressure they’re all pretty precious.”

James McNabney’s Ireland debut came to a premature end (Brian Lawless/PA) (PA Wire)

Farrell faces selection headaches ahead of the South Africa clash.

James McNabney has been ruled out after his Ireland debut was swiftly ended by a swinging arm to the head from Fiji replacement prop Inoke Ravuiwasa.

Jamie Osborne is also set to miss the match, having been forced off early with a pectoral injury, while prop Sam Illo will undergo head injury protocols.