With Scotland’s physical pack looming, the Fiji Water Flying Fijians are tightening up their lineouts and scrums after costly errors in the set piece proved the difference in the narrow loss to the Australian Wallabies on Sunday.
Fiji lost five lineouts and two scrums in the 22-18 defeat in New Castle last Sunday, and head coach Mick Byrne says it’s a key area they’ve addressed.
“We spoke about it today,” Byrne said to the media after their training session at the National Hockey Turf yesterday.
“There’s a couple of things that we can look at. Full credit to the Wallabies and we know Scotland’s lineout defence is going to be the same.
“We’ve just got to be a little bit clearer on our messaging to the boys and give them the opportunity to be clear in what they’re looking for as well.”
He said forward battles are always expected at this level.
“It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. We play Scotland, we play South Africa, we’re playing Spain later in the year. The forwards always come physical,” Byrne added. “So, no matter what team you’re playing, it’s a battle up front. And we are prepared for that. We know Scotland forward pack has done well through the Six Nations and they’ll be ready to go there.”
Breakdown pressure is another area being closely watched, especially after Scotland’s win over the Maori All Blacks.
“They’re very aggressive around the breakdown. Scotland’s physicality hasn’t changed,” Byrne said.
“They play great rugby, so we know that we’re going to have to be on our guard with them. They are a sharp team, but for us, we’ve been really focusing on what we probably missed on Sunday to get right this week.”
Injuries are minimal except for prop Peni Ravai, who may undergo a scan after injuring his arm.
Fiji faces Scotland at 3pm on Saturday at the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva.
