Swire Shipping Fijian Drua head coach Mick Byrne thought they had enough opportunities against the Waratahs after going down 32-18 in Sydney, Australia on Saturday night.
The Drua missed a few scoring moments in the first quarter of the game but Byrne is impressed with how they performed in Sydney.
“I thought we had enough opportunities in the first 20 to 25 minutes to get across the Waratahs try line a couple of times,” said Byrne after the match.
“It’s certainly an improvement from last week with our energy and our effort but it’s frustrating that we couldn’t get a few points early when we had the ball.
“It was a tough game tonight but the Waratahs defended well and I thought it was a good, physical game.
“Our boys kept stepping up but it would’ve been good to get a couple of those early points.”
Byrne and his players are still chasing for a place in the play-offs and their two remaining matches, both at home are must-win matches.
“We had a chance last Friday against the Western Force and again tonight (Saturday) to put the finals in our hands,” Byrne said.
“But now we’ve still got to win but hope that other things go the other way as well.
“We set out to go after the finals in a 12-team competition.
“I know it’s only our second year but we’ve set a target for that eighth spot, that final spot and that was our target at the start of the year.
“We probably let a few games slip early on that we could’ve got and we picked up some games that people didn’t think we’d get.
“There’s a couple of things we still need to learn from but we’ve still got two games and depending on other results and us getting those two wins, we could still be playing finals and that would be a hell of a season for us.”
The Drua takes on Moana Pasifika next at Churchill Park, Lautoka this Saturday and Byrne hopes they will finish these two home games with a flourish.
