FIJI Water Flying Fijians head coach Mick Byrne says the team’s focus going into the opening Pacific Nations Cup (PNC) clash is not on the scoreboard, but on delivering a performance that sets the standard for the campaign.
Speaking ahead of their first game against Tonga on home soil, Byrne stressed that while it may sound like a well-worn rugby cliché, the philosophy within the Flying Fijians camp is built on constant improvement.
“I think, you know, for us, when I do press conferences, it always sounds like you’ve got clichéd lines, but it’s actually a fact. We are a team that focuses on performance,” Byrne said.
He explained that every session is treated as an opportunity to sharpen the side’s systems and demand more from each player.
“We had a really good training session, we put a video up with things that we can get better at,” he said.
“No doubt there’ll be clips where we can say, look, we were really good, we worked really hard, but this is how we can get better.”
Byrne highlighted that the team’s philosophy is about measuring themselves against their own benchmarks rather than chasing results.
“We’re really, really hard on our performances, so we just want to put in a really good performance on our home soil in the first game of the PNC,” he said.
“We want to really set a benchmark around our performance.”
Byrne believes that if Fiji commits to that mindset, the scoreboard will naturally follow.
The Flying Fijians open their PNC campaign at the HFC Bank Stadium next Saturday, aiming to build early momentum ahead of a busy international season.