The FIJI Water Flying Fijians have done what they could ever since Tonga’s 30-16 defeat of Samoa in week one of the Pacific Nations Cup to prepare themselves for the Ikale Tahi this Saturday.
Head coach Mick Byrne said with the intensity of training going up a notch this week ahead of their first PNC match in week two of the tournament, he said it wouldn’t matter.
“I don’t think it would matter, I’m not disrespecting anybody here,” Byrne said in a press conference at the Holiday Inn in Suva yesterday.
“It always ramps up the week of a test match, we talked about it last week.”
And as the days count down to their first assignment, he said the players have worked their best on their physicality and was pleased with their progress.
“We tried to get our intensity, and we tried to get our physicality going and the boys were awesome at it,” he said.
With the first week of the PNC being a bye week for the Flying Fijians, he commended his players for preparing themselves.
“Without a test match on the Saturday, they did a great job in preparing themselves last week, but straight away already, the test match on Saturday doesn’t mean anything for me,” he explained.
“The players have embraced that themselves from yesterday (Monday). We know there’s a test match coming on Saturday and the boys have done everything they possibly can over the first two days to prepare themselves physically for the challenge that’s in front of them on Saturday.
“It’s pretty inspiring to see how they’ve approached it over the last two days.”
Meanwhile, the Tonga national rugby arrived into the country on Monday.
The Flying Fijians and Tonga match will kick off at 3pm this Saturday at the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva.