Ireland not taking Fiji Airways Flying Fijians lightly
Irish study profiles, clips of players like Leone Nakarawa who could pose a threat on Sunday
Ireland rugby coach Joe Schmidt wants another clinical performance against the Fiji Airways Flying Fijians at Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
And he has identified special players in the Fiji team who could pose a threat on Sunday, most notably Mokoisa, Kadavu native Leone Nakarawa.
While the Irish celebrate the 38-3 demolition of the Springboks last weekend, Schmidt didn’t allow the players to rest on their laurels. What the players got after the game from the coach was a tap in the back before he pointed out areas of their play that could have been better. Fullback Rob Kearney said Schmidt was such a perfectionist that he wanted the players to quickly switch focus on Fiji.
“Everyone was obviously delighted with the win,” Kearney told RTE Sport.
“But, in typical Joe fashion, he picked out a fair few clips for us that we can work on going forward.
“That’s probably one of the beauties of the
What the players got after the game from the coach was a tap in the back before he pointed out areas of their play that could have been better.
management and the squad that we have, that the coaches have the ability to turn the page really early on in the week.”
Kearney said the squad have fully turned their attention to Sunday’s test and insisted there would be no complacency against a side who lost 19-10 to Italy last weekend.
“Joe has shown us some player profiles of exactly what some of these players can do and the threats they pose. So after watching that, you know pretty well that you’re in a battle against some really good players.
“Fiji have some world-class players, who have the ability to beat players one-on-one very easily. “As a team, their collective game has improved significantly over the last couple of years.” Fiji Airways Flying Fijians head coach John McKee is aware of the mammoth task ahead on Sunday.
“We need to be at our best and I believe we will be in a better side than the one that played over the weekend,”McKee said.
He is expected to name the test team today. The match kicks-off at 6.30am on Sunday (Fijian time).