{"id":283371,"date":"2025-11-14T06:19:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T06:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/283371\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T06:19:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T06:19:15","slug":"bangkok-post-muntz-eager-to-unleash-weapons-from-fiji-rugby-backline-against-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/283371\/","title":{"rendered":"Bangkok Post – Muntz eager to ‘unleash weapons’ from Fiji rugby backline against France"},"content":{"rendered":"

PUBLISHED : 14 Nov 2025 at 11:45<\/p>\n

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\"Caleb<\/p>\n

Caleb Muntz made his Fiji debut in 2023. <\/p>\n

PARIS – Fiji fly-half Caleb Muntz says he is relishing the chance to “unleash” his star-studded backline against France in the Autumn Nations Series on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Among those outside him, Muntz will have Racing 92 centre Josua Tuisova, Bristol midfielder Kalaveti Ravouvou and Lyon winger Jiuta Wainiqolo in this weekend’s game in Bordeaux.<\/p>\n

The trio follow a long line of mercurial attackers from the small Pacific Island, capable of can creating tries out of nothing.<\/p>\n

“With all the weapons that we have in our backline, it’s very important that I’m kind of the one just to unleash them,” Muntz told AFP on Thursday.<\/p>\n

“I don’t need to do too much, which is kind of a blessing for me.<\/p>\n

“I don’t have to be relying on making any game-changing plays,” the 26-year-old added.<\/p>\n

Playmaker Muntz was born on New Zealand’s north island and qualifies for the rugby-mad nation through his grandparents, with his German surname coming from his father’s side of the family.<\/p>\n

After graduating from Hamilton Boys’ School he joined Fijian Drua for six years and this season has moved to France, with ambitious second-tier club Provence, based in the southern city of Aix-en-Provence.<\/p>\n

Muntz has scored 33 points in three ProD2 appearances, including a superb try on his debut for the club, who are aiming for promotion to the glamorous Top 14.<\/p>\n

– ‘Electric’ Maqala –<\/p>\n

“I played a lot of my rugby in the Fijian system,” Muntz said.<\/p>\n

“It was the right time for me to experience a different type of rugby.<\/p>\n

“When you’re playing international rugby when the weather becomes terrible and you need to slow things down and tighten things up, you need to get used to playing the game a little bit more slower.<\/p>\n

“I can bring that into the team,” the 21-time international added.<\/p>\n

Muntz is one of seven France-based players in Fiji’s matchday squad.<\/p>\n

Powerhouse Tuisova and fleet-footed Wainiqolo are joined by Racing 92 winger Selestino Ravutaumada, Bordeaux-Begles full-back Salesi Rayasi and Clermont back-rower Pita Gus Sowakula in the starting lineup.<\/p>\n

Bayonne’s in-form centre Sireli Maqala must make do with a place on the bench despite crossing four times in seven league games this term.<\/p>\n

“He’s just so electric,” Muntz said.<\/p>\n

“He’s not a big dude, but he’s powerful, he’s quick, he’s got good vision.<\/p>\n

“He kind of sees things that we don’t even see and he makes a break almost every time he touches the ball,” Muntz added.<\/p>\n

This weekend, Muntz will be facing Bleus fly-half Romain Ntamack, who has been a consistent part of Fabien Galthie’s set-up since the former scrum-half took over in December 2019.<\/p>\n

“He’s been a world-class player for a long time now,” Muntz said of Ntamack<\/p>\n

“In terms of French 10s, I think especially Romain and a few of the others, Matthieu Jalibert and all those guys, they’re world-class players,” he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PUBLISHED : 14 Nov 2025 at 11:45 \u00a0 Small \u00a0 Medium \u00a0 Large Caleb Muntz made his Fiji…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,163698,3739,760,85,19717],"class_list":{"0":"post-283371","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-backline","11":"tag-fiji","12":"tag-rugby","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-trance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}