Four Away Wins o
Swire Shipping Fijian Drua head coach Mick Byrne hopes to win four away games this season. This was his comment during the post-match press conference following their 34-10 loss to Blues last Saturday in Whagarei, New Zealand.
He admitted that winning away games were a challenge last season. “We got to do both; if we going to win our home games like what we did last year, we going to win four away games, that’s a challenge,” he said.
“We want to take the next step, take a step forward that means we got to find four away wins.
“Looking back last year, there were games we could have possibly won, it was a challenge for us.”
While the Drua started up well against the Blues, they did not keep the momentum for 80 minutes.
This was something Byrne would like to work on moving forward during the season.
“Looking back at the first 25 minutes, we had 23 phases to start the game and dropped it on the line and then proceed to give away penalty in the next 25 - that’s something we need to fix,” he said.
“We carried well, we had the momentum going at the first part of the game, it would have been awesome to have got it across the line there.
“I thought we came back in the second half, some of the tackles stick and carried the ball a little bit better and we got back into the game, for some reason we lost a few players to cramp and that is something we need to look at.
“I think there is a little bit coming out in the second half and, we picked up part of that game that we needed to.
“The crowd was 50-50, it’s hard to chase a game against the Blues, they are a good side, we can’t go chasing them on their home ground.” Byrne added that there has been so much growth and development within his squad as he sails with them in his third season; there have been positive changes in their attitude and preparation for the season. He hopes to continue to rope in young players for the future of the Drua.
“Massively, they are growing into it enormously when you think back in our first year,” Byrne said.
“When we started – with our conditioning some of the game plan and all these things – first year I did a tremendous job battling away last year we let ourselves down a couple of times during the year but we came back strong and got into the quarter-final.
“We made some progress last year, we made some progress with some of the pre-season work that we’ve done, and now that sort of progress we need to turn it on the field.
“We’ve grown, we have four academy development players in the squad this year, and we’ll get a couple more those young guys push their way in.
“Over the course of two or three years we’re going to push about ten young players in our squad, we’re building that.
“We’re working with Fiji Rugby Union High Performance Unit and people involved there, just trying to keep players on the island – that’s a challenge. We certainly seeing some young developed players, they’re welcome in the future.”