Fiji Water Flying Fijians head coach Mick Byrne isn’t bothered by talk that the his side is becoming a “second-half team.”
In fact, he’s heard the opposite before.
“Before I joined here, they were telling me Fiji was the first-half team and they die in the second half. So, I’m not sure we can please everybody,” Byrne said with a smile.
However, after a strong second-half surge in their narrow loss to the Wallabies on Sunday, the Flying Fijians are eager to build on that momentum as they prepare to face Scotland this Saturday at 3pm at the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva.
“They’re excited,” Byrne said following their first training session this week.
“They’re very disappointed, they’re gutted, but they’re not traumatised or mentally pressured by the game.”
The coach said the players are focused on improvement and confident that when they executed their game plan against the Australian sde, “it looked good.”
“We scored some good tries. We defended really well,” he added.
Byrne welcomed the short turnaround between games, saying it keeps the energy high.
“A short week is really good for us because the excitement about getting out on the field and having another go is good,” he said.
He also pointed to key halftime adjustments that nearly turned the result against the Wallabies.
“I think the fact that we were a bit rusty to start the game and we got in at halftime, we addressed a couple of things, and the boys came out and changed the course of the game and, you know, very nearly won it.”
Meanwhile, the last time the two sides met was on November 3, 2024, where Scotland thrashed Fiji 57-17.
