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London - Whatever shocks lie in store for Fiji in Friday's Rugby World Cup opener against England at Twickenham, the roar of the home crowd will not be among them -- thanks to a sneaky recording the visitors have been putting to good use.
Fiji coach John McKee said his squad had been training against a backdrop of English voices in a bid to accustom themselves to what lies ahead in the game which follows the opening ceremony.
"We had a little bit of a strategy earlier in the campaign in Fiji, we had a PA system playing crowd noise and the sounds from Twickenham," McKee told reporters on Tuesday at Fiji's team base in Weybridge, south-west of London.
"That was part of our preparation. Just the normal crowd noise from Twickenham, they took it off some of the footage.
"It was good in those sessions we did it, it affected the intensity of the training."
Fiji go into the England game in good form, having won four out of their last five matches.
"We've watched England play a lot of games and we've watched their players play a lot of games so we think there are some chinks there that we can exploit," McKee said.
Fiji's last five games:
Sept.6 beat Canada 47-18 (warm-up international)
Aug. 3 beat Samoa 39-29 (Pacific Nations Cup)
July 29 beat Japan 27-22 (Pacific Nations Cup)
July 24 drew with Samoa 30-30 (Pacific Nations Cup)
July 18 beat Tonga 30-22 (Pacific Nations Cup)
