The Swire Shipping Fijian Drua’s performance against Queensland Reds last Saturday has proven that they can match their opponent in terms of speed and power while executing their game plan.

The Fijians showed class through their set-pieces and total control over the breakdowns with important turnovers at crucial moments during the match.

Speaking to SUNsports Swire Shipping Fijian Drua head coach Mick Bryne said it was an area they were working on during the off season.

“Adapting to the pace of the game in Super Rugby was something we discussed during the off-season training program,” he said.

“One of the thing we looked at when we prepared the team back in November was on how we were going to prepare for Super Rugby.

“It’s the speed of the game there is no doubt about that. Super Rugby is one of the fastest tournaments in the world and part of that is our fitness.

“I believe we have adapted well to the competition and we will only grow as we move along.”

He added that the players have found their footing in the competition; they are fit and ready for 80 minutes of rugby.

“We have talked about that many times in being fit enough to play the full 80 minutes,” he said.

“The pace of the game is also fast, the pace of the breakdown, tackles and passing so everything comes at a quicker pace.

“It just takes a little bit of adapting to that and helping the players realise the speed they need to work out on.

“They have been doing a great job and there is still room for improvement.

“We are working hard on our ball placements we want to give our nines good balls to deliver – we need to improve in those areas as well.”

Lineouts

“We said a couple of times the lineout were not functioning, we spend a lot of times the couple of weeks just trying to work through our process and our system,” Bryne said.

“The improvement has been good and we are happy with the outcome and we continue to look at that area.”