‘Fijian Drua Have Not Lost Ability To Play’
Despite Swire Shipping Fijian Drua’s 67-5 defeat against the Hurricanes they have not lost their ability to play rugby says head coach Mick Byrne.
The Drua is geared up to face Pacific rival Moana Pasifika at 4:35pm this Saturday at the Commbank Stadium in Sydney.
Byrne indicated that mental preparation is crucial for the next game after being thrashed by a colourful side like the Hurricanes.
“Good thing about a week like that is we haven’t lost our talent or our skill or our ability to play,” Bryne said yesterday.
“So it just comes down to, you know, regrouping ourselves mentally and preparing ourselves. I think it was a messy week for us. We haven’t been home for five months and that was a real big high.
“And then they come back into the grind, which they can sometimes feel they didn’t. They probably look back over the weekend when we came in. We didn’t get back to where we needed to.
“So being able to have a look back on that game and seeing the things that we didn’t get right last week mentally as players - we can sit down now and really prepare for that.
“And I think that’s been the case. They’ve come into camp we’ve given them today (yesterday) off to get the recovery ride and medical checks.
“Already the boys are sitting around, you can see real determination.
“The key there is their preparation and the mindset to get them ready for the weekend. And that’s been positive since we got back into camp.”
Nagusa back, Veitokani awaits knee surgery
Byrne added suspended captain Nemani Nagusa will be available for selection this week.
“He hasn’t done a full week of training. He aggravated a knee injury. We’re expecting him to train fully this week to be available for selection this weekend,” he added.
Alivereti Veitokani will need to undergo a knee surgery before he can be fit to play while Ilaisa Droasese should be expected to get the nod soon.
“I wouldn’t imagine that he take part in the season because we knew from the start that he’s (Veitokani) going to get a knee surgery.
“So at the moment he’s just training himself in rehab to get strong so that when he has surgery he is good, you’re coming out the other side of that in good shape.”
“Ilaisa is training well and we would just see how he goes.
“He has started the season late this week. Hopefully this week he can have a good training, get some good physical contact. He may be able to figure in the selection the last couple of weeks.
“We’re keen for him to have a run off because he’s excited to be playing but we’ve got to make sure he’s ready to go. We can’t put him out there especially against the Crusaders or the Chiefs when he hasn’t had a good prep.
“So we’re looking at some good prep over a week to 10 days and hopefully presenting himself for selection next week.”