Byrne: No Excuses, Must Adapt

The Swire Shipping Fijian Drua head coach Mick Byrne said there were no excuses on their 34-14 loss to the Western Force in Perth, Austral­ia, last Friday night.

Byrne said although they had a short turnaround and 19 hours of travelling to Perth, it was the nature of the game and they have to adapt.

“We’ve learnt a valuable lesson of turning up and not ready to play,” he said.

Byrne highlighted that he would be talking to the players about this as they prepare to take on Waratahs in this Saturday’s Shop N Save Super Rugby Pacific clash at the Allianz Stadium in Sydney.

“We had the ball but kept going wide instead of going straight at them.

“We were slow in our defensive folds as they (Force) had the edge out wide,” Byrne said.

“We turned the ball over to them eight to nine times during the start of the game.

“We gave them (Force) a head start with their early tries and it’s not easy when it’s the home ground.

“We came back but we were not ready to play especially after the win over the Hurricanes.”

Byrne said this was a much simi­lar situation in their 27-24 loss to the Reds after coming off a win over the Crusaders.

“We were not ready to play in that game and was not able to meet fire with fire.”

Drua captain Meli Derenalagi said the players have to stand-up and face the consequences.

He said a few of the players were still riding high after the win over the Hurricanes and did not work hard enough for the Force match.

“We got caught out because we were not prepared for it,” Der­enalagi added.

Byrne said this has been a major learning curve for the team espe­cially when they are still in their second year of the Super Rugby competition.

Story By: Leone Cabenatabua

Feedback: leonec@fijisun.com.fj