HAVING their pool matches in the Pacific Nations Cup closer to home will serve as an advantage for the FIJI Water Flying Fijians, says head coach Mick Byrne.
Fiji is pooled with Samoa and Tonga in Pool A, and the fixtures in Rotorua, New Zealand for the former and at the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva for the latter are what Byrne says makes sense in a logistical aspect.
“We’ve got Tonga in Suva, and then we’ve got Samoa in Rotorua so it’s a not bad travel program for us,” coach Byrne said in a virtual media conference yesterday.
“I think it’s a couple things there, logistically it makes a lot of sense to play our pools a bit like last year and it’s probably logistically the best way to do it.”
“We’ll just play our games down in the islands, we were due to play against Samoa, but their grounds are being refurbished so that game’s been relocated to Rotorua.”
“So that’ll be a good experience for all of us and then we just get on the plane and head to the (United) States for the finals.”
The finals will be hosted in Denver, Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah.
While he acknowledged the convenience the team would have in travelling to these matches, he highlighted the other teams travelling farther for their PNC matches such as those in Pool B.
“Canada, USA and Japan have got to do a bit of their travelling for their game but we’re probably fortunate in the way that it’s worked out for us in that way we’ve got a bye week to start,” he mentioned.
The Flying Fijians meet Tonga on August 30 at the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva and will meet Samoa a week later on September 6.
