PREVIEW-Rugby-Flying Fijians blossom after going back to their roots

Georgia and Portugal round out the pool. Wales coach Warren Gatland was at Twickenham to watch Fiji beat England and will have returned home with plenty of food for thought ahead of his team's tournament opener against the Pacific islanders in Bordeaux.

Fiji's stunning upset of England in their final Rugby World Cup warm-up sent them hurtling up the world rankings to a record high of seventh and sounded out a warning their rivals would be wise to heed.

The historic victory at Twickenham was a fourth in five tests for the Flying Fijians this year, the one exception being a loss to World Cup hosts France in Nantes from which they also took a great deal of credit. Solid at set piece, physical at the breakdown and as willing as ever to run the ball, Fiji have been playing at a level that would suggest a place in the knockout rounds for the fourth time should not be the extent of their ambitions.

Coach Simon Raiwalui, a former Wallabies assistant, took over from Vern Cotter in January and, according to captain Waisea Nayacalevu, has quickly fostered a new culture. "We went back and reconnected with our roots and who we are, who we represent, and that is probably the foundation of our campaign from the beginning of this season," Nayacalevu explained after Fiji's first ever win over England.

"We have a pretty good bond between us, unlike other camps I've been in. I think this group of men, we bond well together, the experienced and the young ones, and that's what you see on the pitch." Quarter-finalists at the 1987 and 2007 World Cups, Fiji have always had plenty of talented individuals but, popular wisdom had it, lacked the cohesion, fitness and discipline to survive at the business end of the tournament.

Raiwalui has been focused on improving all three areas since the squad gathered in mid-July for the Pacific Nations Cup, which they won convincingly by beating Japan, Samoa and Tonga. They were, Raiwalui said, as fit as a Fiji squad has ever been and the physicality displayed at Twickenham was no accident.

"A lot of people think that Fijian-style rugby is throwing it around and offloading and that sort of thing, but Fiji rugby is also about collisions, winning the gain-line and defence," he said. In his squad, Raiwalui has blended veterans like Semi Radrada and Nayacalevu, who play their club rugby in Europe's top leagues, with youngsters from the Fijian Drua team that was introduced to Super Rugby two years ago.

"The Drua has been huge for us," Raiwalui added. "We've been able to expose 40 or 50 players to playing advanced level Super Rugby. And that's shown in the number of (Drua) players that were selected in this World Cup squad." Fiji were seeded third in Pool C when the draw was made but their good form combined with poor results for Wales and Australia means they will go into the tournament ranked above both. Georgia and Portugal round out the pool.

Wales coach Warren Gatland was at Twickenham to watch Fiji beat England and will have returned home with plenty of food for thought ahead of his team's tournament opener against the Pacific islanders in Bordeaux. "We've been preparing right from the beginning for this date, the 10th of September, that's been our goal right from the start," Raiwalui said.