ANALYSIS-The future of Vodafone Flying Fijians head coach, John McKee, is under a cloud of uncertainty.

This is regardless of the outcome of this morning’s important Test clash against Japan in Vannes, France. It is understood that McKee’s removal as head coach could come as early as today.

His performance had been closely monitored after he was given his Key Performance Indicator (KPIs), this year.

McKee did not have a good season especially after that embarrassing 14-3 loss to minnows Georgia at the ANZ Stadium, Suva followed by the Barbarians and England thrashings during the Northern Tour.

In fact, McKee was supposed to be shown the door soon after last year’s Rugby World Cup but the decision was held back after they considered he was initially hired as the HPU general manager and was given the coaching duties by the former Fiji Rugby Union board of directors. This was the only way to be fair to the man.

Last week, McKee explained to Rugby World difficulties he faced while coaching the Flying Fijians as he spends less time with the players due to their club contracts overseas.

“We had a three-day camp in Toulouse where all the professional players come in,” he told Rugby World.

“With travelling and everything, we really had four sessions, Monday afternoon, two on Tuesday and Wednesday morning. The requirements say that the professional players return to their clubs and some of them played for their clubs and then we reassembled on Sunday night in Belfast. There were still players coming in Monday morning, some players played on Sunday with a Friday night game it was a pretty tough week’s preparation.”

McKee added: “We have had very little time together since the World Cup. The World Cup for the tier-two countries is always a good year because the windows and player availability are bigger.

“The Pacific Nations Cup is expanded and we play a number of games together. Also we are in camps for a number of months rather than a number of weeks.”

But despite all these obstacles, it is not going to help his cause in any way as the bottom-line is all about results.

This is very crucial in terms of marketing Fiji Rugby, as a winning brand and the financial benefits it will bring.

Hard decisions have to be made for the progress of the sport and if that means that McKee has to leave, then so be it.

Edited by Osea Bola

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