AS Fiji’s 2027 Rugby World Cup journey takes on second gear following the announcement of pool draws on Wednesday night, selecting the best squad to embark on the coveted quest will not be easy.
FIJI Water Flying Fijians head coach Mick Byrne admitted selections were always tough and with a new crop of players heading into European rugby clubs, he will eye these prospects carefully.
“It’s always tough selections and there’s another batch of young players coming into France and England as we speak,” Byrne shared to TimesSport yesterday.
“And I’m looking forward to seeing how they perform over the next couple of years.”
However, he said selecting players to don the white jumper meant having to select them for what skills and abilities they stood out for.
“As I’ve mentioned before, there’s a lot more to selecting our squad than just players that might score great tries in France,” he explained.
“So, there’s a lot of things at stake that we take into account.”
The factors being taken into account were the feedback received from their respective clubs on how they fared in training and their level of strength and conditioning.
“Over the next 12 to 18 months as we prepare for the World Cup, we’ve let our players know we’ll be watching them closely and we’ll be looking forward to seeing the improvements in their strength and conditioning areas and the quality of contributions they’re making to their team.”
At present, having a pool of players for key positions has been made possible with a large selection base of players from the Swire Shipping Fijian Drua and those plying their trade in French and English rugby clubs.
