Despite hearing his own bones break while scoring a try in Fiji's emphatic win over the USA on Saturday night, prop Kane Evans is keeping a positive attitude and doing everything he can to make sure Fiji go deep into the World Cup finals.
Evans is taking on an off-field leadership role, especially with the forwards, where his experience is likely to prove invaluable amongst some of Fiji's younger players.
Evans he has several players amongst the team pegged as NRL material in the future.
"I'll probably just be trying to help the boys in my position the best I can, just to pick them up and help them at training," Evans said.
"There's obviously a lot of players that can fill in… we've got heaps of talent and young forwards coming through so it will be good to see who they put in."
Fiji will miss Evans' 74 games of NRL experience, but the man himself is confident Fiji's forwards can get the job done going forward.
Despite his confidence Evans is disappointed that he'll be watching the remaining World Cup games.
"It will be tough, but I have the utmost confidence in our pack and I know our squad can deliver," he said.
"If you look over the last World Cups in the Fijian team you always see someone come through and surprise everyone so I'm expecting that from the young talent."
One of those young talents, St George Illawarra Dragons NYC halfback Joe Lovodua, is pleased that Evans has shown his commitment to the side by remaining in camp.
The young half, who played off the interchange bench on the weekend, is yet to play an NRL game but is keen to secure his position.
"Kane has been a huge influence… he gets around us younger guys and he brings us up to where he is," Lovodua said.
"He teaches us a lot; having him back in camp, even though we're going to miss him out there, is good. He's a fun guy and really inclusive."
