Swire Shipping Fijian Drua head coach Mick Byrne said they are ready for the Crusaders in Saturday’s Shop N Save Super Rugby Pacific quarterfinal clash at the Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Byrne boldly made the announcement during a press conference at the Drua homebase in Legalega, Nadi, yesterday.

“Once the final starts it is a whole new ball game altogether,” he said.

“It is now knockout footy, we have played a couple of weeks of knockout footy.”

Byrne said preparations for the last two games (Moana Pasifika and Reds) is the same as the for the Crusaders match.

“If we lost against Moana we would probably be out of the finals and if we lost against the Reds, we would be upset. The last two games have been played and won.”

Byrne said from their three-week preparations, they are ready for battle.

“We are ready. We are ready for the fact that this could be our last game and we have been getting ready for that for the last three weeks.

“So that is the beauty of getting ready for this week.

“Same preparation and if we don’t get across the line this week, our season is over. It is a great driver.

“We have been preparing for that and it puts us in good stead for this week.”

Byrne said now when they are in the quarterfinals, the intensity and physicality have been lifted to another level.

“Our boys are really looking forward to lifting their physicality. They have been disappointed a couple of times this year and I know they will leave nothing behind when they go out there on Saturday.”

He also assured fans that the weather in Christchurch, which is forecasted to be at 4 Degrees Celsius during game time wasn’t an issue for them.

Masi, Doge update

Byrne confirmed that centre Iosefo Masi and tighthead prop Mesake Doge would be part of the team leaving for Christchurch on Friday.

“Masi and Mesake ran well today. We will see how they pull up tomorrow (today). At this stage they will be there on the weekend,” Byrne added

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