The FIJI Water Flying Fijians are fired up and ready to hit the field as they gear up for their much-awaited autumn series opener against England this Sunday.
Head coach Mick Byrne is anticipating a brutal and tactical showdown, but he’s confident the boys are ready to give the Red Roses a run for their money on their home turf.
“We’ve been working hard. The way we train is to be match prepared, we do a lot of game speed training and we monitor the players, and we are keeping an eye on all those areas,” Byrne said.
“We know that we are getting fitter every week, we know that we are able to play out those games of rugby,” he shared.
This weekend’s clash is set to be Fiji’s toughest Test this year, with England holding the number four spot on the world rankings.
With World Rugby recently naming Fiji a Tier one nation, Byrne knows the Flying Fijians have a big responsibility to show up and prove they belong at this level.
“But the big one is for us to make sure we do everything on our terms and when you come in against these Tier 1 teams, you are ready for a battle, and we’ve really been focusing on making sure we ready.
“And we really had a good training day today (yesterday), a really good physical day, and it’s going to be a Twickenham battle on Sunday,” he said.
The Flying Fijians are eager to avenge their 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final exit and fans can expect a fierce battle this Sunday at Twickenham.
The match kicks off at 5.40am.
The last time the two teams met was during the quarter-final of the 2023 Rugby World Cup when England edged Fiji 30-24 while Fiji had defeated England 30-22 heading into the world cup.
