FLYING Fijians coach John McKee believes the most important achievement at the 2019 Rugby World Cup was to gain direct qualification for the 2023 event, which will be held in France.
He said the direct qualification made the planning cycle easier for the Fiji Rugby Union to start preparations early to build the team for the 2023 RWC.
McKee said the pools at this year’s RWC were very challenging and the standard of the teams had gone up.
“Certainly it was important for us to get the automatic qualification for the 2023 RWC,” McKee said.
“At this RWC, all the pools were very challenging. Although we had a high goal of making the quarter-finals, we did not achieve that, but it was then very important that we qualify directly for 2023.
“That makes the planning cycle for the FRU much easier and we can start building our team for 2023. The standard of all teams has gone up although I thought that we were in a lot better place than we were in 2015.
“We were consistent and were fitter and had a game style we believe that could take us through. But all the other teams improved also, so the level of competition got higher and higher.
“It was very pleasing for me that we could be so competitive against Australia and Wales, but at the same time disappointing that we could not be consistent throughout the full 80 minutes and bring home a result in one of those games.”
The players have been given a break with many of the professional players expected to rejoin their respective clubs overseas in the next 10 days.
McKee said some of the players from the Flying Fijians squad would be retiring and they would have to look at the younger group of potential players for the next RWC.
