Fiji Water Flying Fijians head coach Mick Byrne said he is pleased with the performance of his team, despite their defeat by the Australian Wallabies in a close 18-21 finish in Newcastle, Australia.
Byrne told this newspaper that when asked what he thought of the team’s never-say-die resolve on the field during the 80-minute spectacle.
“I’m very happy with the overall performance, we talked about having a short window into the game and preparation,” Byrne shared.
“I thought all our players did a tremendous job during the week, get on the same page, were really clear and were well led and they got there.”
The Flying Fijians trailed behind the Wallabies at half-time with a 5-14 deficit and gave their opponents a scare in the second half when they flipped the status quo from the home side, retaining possession for a majority of the latter half.
The home team won 21-18 in the end.
Reflecting on what transpired during the breather, Byrne said they gave themselves a chance to regroup before heading back into the field.
“We came in at half-time and we were a bit rusty and we were down in certain aspects of the game and we regrouped and we got our game together and we got it going in the second half,” he said.
Despite the loss, Byrne said the fans and supporters could be proud of the work put in by the team out on the field at the McDonald Jones Stadium.
“I think as an overall performance, people should be pretty proud of their team today.”
And that’s exactly what the fans and supporters at the stadium showed the team after the match, as they took to the field to engage with them in photo opportunities and the chance to meet their favourite players.
Yesterday’s Test saw a total crowd of 28,132 people in attendance.
Fiji will face Scotland in their second July Test at the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva on Saturday.
The last time Fiji played Scotland at home was in 2017.
