Swire Shipping Fijian Drua head coach Mick Byrne said yesterday’s 30-14 loss to the Blues at Churchill Park, Lautoka was a hard pill to swallow.
The Drua showed pure class and flair for a few moments which Byrne believes they should have capitalised on.
“I think we made the first four line breaks of the game but we didn’t capitalise on them,” Byrne said.
“The Blues are a good side and if you get an opportunity to breach them and get behind them, you need to score.
“We didn’t take those opportunities on four occasions in the first half and I thought we gave them a soft try just before the halftime hooter went.
“The second half was just a battle and they’re a good side. They threw stuff at us and we held on.
“There were times where we had chances but we didn’t finish off our work.
“Playing against these big sides, you might get five or six opportunities so you need to take them all if you want to be competitive.”
Byrne was disappointed with the disallowed try in the final minutes of the game, saying it depicted the “never say die” attitude his players have on the field.
“I was disappointed in the last try, it wouldn’t have made a difference to the game but that’s the sort of stuff we like to play to,” said Byrne.
“I know we needed to be better in that first half when the game is on the line to get on top of a side.
“We made a lot of errors when we made those line breaks but it will be something we will work on moving forward.”
The Drua still have a chance at making the top eight in this year’s Shop N Save Super Rugby Pacific season and Byrne said that is their main focus heading into their last five matches of the season.
“We will have to finish our plays,” said Byrne.
“We created a lot of good plays but we just have to finish better and that is what we will work on heading into these five matches.
“It’s just that we have a passion for scoring tries every time we touch the ball, and there is nothing wrong with that.
“When you’re playing a good side, you need to seize your moments and capitalise on the opportunity.
“We’ve got the Hurricanes in Suva next week and then our last four games so we will do our best.
“All these teams are fighting for a spot in the eight so it’ll be up to us when we get to those last few games.”
