Fiji Sun

COACH MCKEE OPTIMISTIC OF FIJI

AIRWAYS FIJIAN DRUA CHANCES AGAINST RAYS

- NIKOLAU RAVAI Edited by Osea Bola Feedback: nikolau.ravai@fijisun.com.fj

John McKee is optimistic the Fiji Airways Fijian Drua will turn things around against the Sydney Rays today.

The Fiji Airways Flying Fijians head coach was impressed after he watched the team during their captain’s run at the Concord Oval yesterday.

After the 22-52 loss to Queensland Country last week, McKee is happy with the progress the team has made so far. The Drua play the Rays at 5pm today.

“They look in good shape and should turn things around,”McKee said.

“The coaching staff have been working tirelessly and the boys should deliver.

“Our forwards are playing well in the past three games and I’m expecting another big effort from them.

“Lapse in concentrat­ion for probably 20 minutes proved costly for the Drua last week otherwise the boys played well.”

McKee watched the Rays beaten by NSW Country on Wednesday. “They are a good team,”McKee said.

“Some of them played for the Waratahs in Super Rugby. They are a team who could score and concede most points.

“I’m banking on the Drua to pull away. Changes have been made in the backline to provide opportunit­ies for others.”

FLYING FIJIAN PREP

McKee is happy with preparatio­n for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. “I think that we are tracking well and at the same time I know that we need a lot of work to do in order to get the best out of our players,”he told rugby.com “Certainly we got a good core of players that have just came back from the 2015 RWC and they have a valuable experience.

“The injection of some younger players like Semi Radradra is a great addition to a winning team and we are very happy that we have him with us for next year and he has really made an impact as a winger

“We will be in a competitiv­e pool and our ambition is to certainly get out of the pool stages and to move up to the playoffs

“It is important for us to hit the ground running and there is a need for us to focus on one game at a time “We will try and put our best performanc­e during the game

“We are working very hard just to assure that we are 100 percent ready to hit the ground.”

 ??  ?? READY FOR 15,7S. .... Olympian Samisoni Viriviri of Dratabu is tackled by Army players in the semi-final of the Super Premier Comp at Prince Charles Park in Nadi on September 22,2018.Photo: Waisea Nasokia.
READY FOR 15,7S. .... Olympian Samisoni Viriviri of Dratabu is tackled by Army players in the semi-final of the Super Premier Comp at Prince Charles Park in Nadi on September 22,2018.Photo: Waisea Nasokia.
 ??  ?? Fiji Airways Flying Fijians head coach John McKee.
Fiji Airways Flying Fijians head coach John McKee.

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