Former Flying Fijians fullback Josh Matavesi believes Fiji is being held back by the lack of competitive fixtures and has called on the International Rugby Board to include them in a leading southern hemisphere tournament.

Matavesi said Fiji should also be added to the Super 15 competition which involves the leading franchises in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.

The Worcester Warriors centre believes the current system mitigates against Fiji being successful on the international stage.

Matavesi said if you are playing against weakened teams all the time then your standards drop and then suddenly if you play a one off game against England or the All Blacks you get thrashed which is because Fiji's competitions are not that great.

Matavesi's argument will be particularly relevant this summer when rivals Samoa play in a four team tournament that includes the Springboks, Scotland and Italy, while Fiji will be left playing tier two nations.

Matavesi added that if the IRB wants more competition they need to mix it up and play with the tier one teams.

Story by: Filipe Naikaso