MICK Byrne, the head coach of the FIJI Water Flying Fijians, witnessed what he says were questions needed to be answered by his team despite their 29-15 win over Samoa in their second Pacific Nations Cup match.
The half-time score stood at 15-12 for Samoa, tries scored by Pita Anae Ah-Sue in the fourth minute of play and Joel Lam in the 19th minute and a penalty kick by fly-half Rodney Iona in the 10th minute.
After the break, Fiji’s defences strengthened, and the players put on a comeback performance to redeem themselves from the half-time deficit.
Byrne acknowledged the performance of their Samoan opponents.
“I think we were just hanging in there, we knew that if we could hang on to the wall and play our game, that we were going to ask some questions,” Byrne said.
“Full credit to Samoa (Saturday), they came out physical and they played some great footy and really asked some questions for us that we were struggling to answer.”
The Samoans gained territory by 53 per cent while Fiji gained 47 per cent.
In possession, Fiji had a higher command of the ball with 56 per cent while Samoa had the remainder of 44 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Flying Fijians conceded 12 penalties and the Samoans had 17.
Byrne remarked that despite the second half comeback, conceding penalties near that number was not desirable.
“I thought when we came out in the second half, we were pretty aggressive in our defence.
“Got us back into the game but I think 14 or 15 penalties is not good enough for this level.”
Meanwhile, the Flying Fijians level of discipline was maintained while the Samoans copped a yellow and red card through flanker Taleni Seu.
Seu had copped a yellow card for a dangerous tackle of Seta Tamanivalu in the 49th minute and a red card in the dying minutes of the game.
The Flying Fijians, after their win over Samoa, lead Pool A of the PNC with 10 points, having won its first match against Tonga 32-10 in Suva. They will face the runner-up from Pool B in the semi-finals.
