Samoa up next for Flying Fijians in PNC

Mick Byrne and his men will capital­ise on their loose balls in the contact area when they take on Samoa on Saturday.

Despite their 32-10 win over Tonga in their Pacific Nations Cup (PNC) opener in Suva, Byrne said there is still a lot of work to be done.

The Flying Fijians ran in four tries to se­cure a bonus point win and lead the Pool A table, while the visitors scored their lone try through Augustine Pulu less than two min­utes after kick off.

Byrne said there were a lot of interruptions during the match with stoppages by referee Karl Dickson.

"We were a bit loose in our breakdown and ball carries, great opportunity for us to work on that and present ourselves better in the next game," Byrne said.

"Pretty sure the referee will put on a bit more pressure at Eden Park and he won't stop-start there. I wasn't really happy with that."

Fiji's try scorers were Seta Tamanivalu, Ka­laveti Ravouvou, Tevita Ikanivere and debu­tant Taniela Rakuro.

Playmaker Caleb Muntz converted three tries and slotted two success­ful penalties. Byrne also praised the four players who earned their first Test cap for Fiji on Saturday - Etonia Waqa, Tuidraki Samusamuvodre, Motikiai Murray and Rakuro.

"They were great. Tui was really good, con­trolled well, he was composed out there and then when Motz (Murray) came on as well; Dan (Rakuro) scored a try on his first touch of the ball.

"I'm looking looking forward to build their game.

" Captain Tevita Ikanivere added that they will take each game as it comes. He also thanked spectators for both teams for their support.

"We'll take one step at a time," the hooker said.

"We did not capitalise a lot - dropping the ball in our contact area.

"There were a lot of weaknesses; we gave away some penalties which could have been avoided." The team is expected to begin their prepara­tion today in New Zealand before they will face Samoa in Rotorua.