Fiji spirit not dampened by Little injury

By Rex Gowar

PARIS (Reuters) - Fiji will not allow their joy at reaching the World Cup quarter-finals to be dampened by the loss of injured flyhalf Nicky Little, architect of their upset victory over Wales.

Little kicked 18 points and sparked the Fijian attack as the Pacific islanders, the world's consummate Sevens players, beat the Welsh 38-34 in Nantes on Saturday to reach the last eight for the second time.

The veteran of two previous World Cups, who was carried off on a stretcher just before the end of the match with a knee injury, was ruled out of the tournament on Sunday. He will be out for about six weeks, team officials said.

Fiji, runners-up in Pool B, meet Pool A winners South Africa in a Marseille quarter-final next Sunday. Their previous quarter-final in New Zealand in 1987 ended in a 31-16 defeat by France.

"We will use Nicky's injury as motivation," said centre Seremaia Bai looking ahead to the quarter-final against 1995 world champions South Africa.

"We are a family and we will play for him like a brother. He's one of the world-class kickers and his experience speaks for itself," he told reporters.

HARD WORK

Captain Mosese Rauluni said: "Years ago Fiji would have lost that game, I'm so proud of the boys.