The Fiji Water Flying Fijians head coach Mick Byrne has dismissed talk of experimenting with his squad for the Pacific Nations Cup (PNC), saying the focus is on building depth for future campaigns.
“I don’t like the word experiment. That’s not what we’re doing,” Byrne said at yesterday’s press conference at Holiday Inn in Suva.
“We’re giving some players an opportunity to come into the program and young players come in the program and show us what they’ve got for our build our depth towards the World Cup.”
Byrne said the PNC was the perfect platform to test combinations in a competitive environment.
He explained that every player in the squad had earned their place through performance.
“These boys have played well, and they’ve earned the right to be here,” he said.
With only 30 players allowed in the PNC squad, Byrne admitted they had to call in a few High-Performance Unit players as cover for niggling injuries.
Simione Kurovoli sat out training with a tight groin, while Taniela Rakuro also missed a session with a minor ankle issue.
“At this stage of proceedings, you sort of err on the side of caution,” Byrne said.
“If we had to play on the weekend, they would have been training.”
The Flying Fijians will open their PNC campaign against Tonga next week Saturday August 30, and Byrne expects a physical challenge.
“You know, the physicality that Tonga bring to their game and their aggression, and their line speed coming off is going to put us under a lot of pressure,” he said.
“We need to be ready for that.”
Byrne said Fiji was focused on putting in a strong performance on home soil.
“We just want to put in a really good performance on our home soil in the first game of PNC. We want to really set a benchmark around our performance.”