Flying Fijians to expect raw physicality

The Fiji Water Flying Fijians is leaving no stones unturned in their Pacific Nations Cup (PNC) preparation to defend their title.

They will host the Ikale Tahi at the HFC Bank Stadium, Suva, next Saturday in Suva, and head coach Mick Byrne knows that their Pacific rival will bring their A game.

With two training sessions done after they marched into camp at Holiday Inn, Suva, last weekend, Byrne was impressed with their run.

He has named four uncapped players in his 30-member squad including Fijian Drua’s speedster Taniela Rakuro who was impressive with Taranaki Bulls in the National Provincial Championship, and Joji Nasova who replaced injured-Semi Radradra.

The other two players who are yet to make their Flying Fijians debut are Isoa Tuwai and Tuidraki Sam-usamuvodre.

The former Drua coach indicated Tonga will be a physical side who’ll also be aggressive.

“They got a big forward pack and they’re well-disciplined around set-piece and we have to make sure we’re on that area,” Byrne said.

“We just to be prepared to dig deep on our home turf and we want to hang onto the ball that’s probably we want to do and make sure we got off the line and make our tackles against them. Because if we allow them to play - they have good players as well, so it’s going to be a big clash always is when islands teams get together.

“We expect some raw physicality.”

Tonga’s PNC squad released on Mon-day includes veteran Salesi Piutau and Sonatane Takulua while their forward pack sees France-based props Siegfried Fisi’ihoi and Ben Tameifuna.

Byrne added that the PNC builds their depth as they set their eyes on the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.

“We are giving some players the opportunity to come into the programme, young players to build our depths towards the World Cup.

“It’s important that we continue to build our depths for the programme and nothing is experimental about it.”

He also roped some High Performance Unit players and former Under-20 player, Janeiro Wakeham, to complete their teams at training.

The squad was divided into three teams at yesterday’s training at Albert Park while Rakuro and Simione Kuruvoli stood by at the sideline.

Byrne said the duo were nursing minor injuries and being cautious.

They are good to join the team at tomorrow’s training session.

He added there is pressure going in as defending champions.

“Our focus is on performance, we had good training sessions today and we’ll see where we can get better.

"We will let the score board speak on itself.

“I think there is a high expectation from our Fiji fans, we actually excited about that. Externally people see it as pressure we see it as an opportunity to focus to get our game right.

“If we allow sort of outside influence, sometimes it can take away what your focus is.”

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