Keeping It ‘Simple’

Expect nothing fancy or special from the Swire Shipping Fijian Drua as they take on the unbeaten Queensland Reds in Saturday’s Super Rugby Pacific clash at the Suncorp Stadium in Bris­bane, Australia.

That was the gist of Drua’s head coach Mick Bryne’s mes­sage during a press conference yesterday.

“For us it’s all about perfor­mance,” Bryne said.

“It’s about gauging our perfor­mance, perfecting it till we im­prove and become competitive. We’ll keep on working in every aspect of our game. Things like supporting the ball carrier, de­fence, respect the ball and wait for the game to open up.”

Byrne said for the past few months, it has been tough as they had focused on their per­formance and at the same time understand their game plan.

He confirmed that captain, Nemani Nagusa, was back training after receiving treat­ment on his knee. Byrne indi­cated that it was too early to say whether Nagusa was going to play against the Reds.

“We’ll look at it in the next 12 hours before we decide. If Nagusa plays then he’ll be cap­tain.”

He pointed out that Caleb Muntz received a knock dur­ing the Rebels match and was rested for a few days.

“Now Caleb is back training while Baden Kerr was injured during warm-up before the Re­bels match and was replaced by Onisi (Ratave) who did play well.”

Byrne said halfback Frank Lomani has also joined their training run and is a very popu­lar person in camp.

Looking at their lineouts, By­rne admitted it has been one of their weak points.

“We were looking at its func­tioning and execution of it. The players have put their hands up since it is an area we are lack­ing in. Now we are working hard on it.”

He spoke highly on the amount of work put in by lock Isoa Nasilasila and loosehead prop Kaliopasi Uluilakepa, when they first joined camp in last November.

“Now they are in better shape and are playing well. They are still working hard in training.”

Byrne also praised the centre partnership of Kalaveti Ra­vouvou and Apisalome Vota who have been impressive so far with their high work rate.

Feedback: leonec@fijisun.com.fj