Crunch time as McKee set to finalise squad for 2019 RWC
The Fiji Airways Flying Fijians play their final Test match at home against Samoa in the third round of the Pacific Nations Cup this Saturday.
This is a crucial game for head coach John McKee. He will need to give players such as Vereniki Goneva, Setareki Tuicuvu, Eroni Sau, Nikola Matawalu, Tevita Cavubati, Joeli Veitayaki, Luke Tagi, Johnny Dyer and Serupepeli Vularika a run before finalising his squad for the Rugby World Cup.
So far, the World Cup build-up has been on track with no serious injuries which may threaten players’ chances of selection.
As of now, with the RWC less than 50 days away it’s all about planning and monitoring the players’ performance.
The target is for the players to peak at the right time. McKee has put together a highly experienced and capable coaching group to assist him.
They are Tabai Matson (senior assistant coach), Neil Barnes (assistant coach), Alan Muir (assistant coach), Damien March (head of athletic performance), John Pryor (head of strengthening and conditioning), Hiroaki Nitta (assistant strength and conditioning), Bryn Savill (doctor), William Kwoong (head physiotherapist), David Bick (physiotherapist) along with Willie Baleinabuli (team manager).
As we start our countdown, we should expect some hard decisions to be made by McKee and his team over the selection of players.
Some will be hard to accept and surely there’ll be some emotional moments as well because we all have our list of favourite players who we want to see make the World Cup team.
But the bottom line is that McKee and his coaching team know the type of players they need and we should support whatever team they put together for the World Cup.
This is the only way to go.