THE Fiji Water Flying Fijians 32-member squad for the Autumn Internationals next month will convene in London, England to prepare for their Tests against England, France and Spain.
Head coach Mick Byrne said the team would travel from their respective clubs for the European-based players and the locally-based players in Fiji would fly over to join them in England to begin preparing themselves for the three Tests.
While finalisations around the process were still being carried out at the time Byrne shared news, he said the squad would undergo a regulation nine camp.
“We’re just finalising at the moment, we’re looking to run a reg-nine (regulation nine) camp over there,” Byrne said.
A regulation nine camp is a rugby training camp organised under World Rugby Regulation Nine, which oversees the release of players by their clubs to play for their national teams.
He added the team is expected to come together in London later this month between October 25-27 to start their preparations.
With the first Test against England scheduled for November 8, Byrne welcomed the large window of time to prepare, mentioning the Flying Fijians “don’t get that chance”.
He highlighted the training window was a great opportunity for the team to come together and properly train for the Tests, a difference from the slim window of training sessions the team had in Newcastle where they faced the Wallabies in July.
“There’s no victim statement here at all, it’s just stating facts,” he said.
“We came up against a mini cyclone in Newcastle, so we only had one really good training session before we played Australia.
“So, for Fiji Rugby to give us the opportunity to come together with a camp and not have to prepare for (in a short period of time), is great and we’re very thankful for that opportunity and we don’t get to do it very often.”
The Flying Fijians face England in their first Test on Sunday, November 9 at Twickenham Stadium in London at 5.40am (Fiji time).
