Fiji Water Flying Fijians head coach Mick Byrne admits the hardest part of his job this week may not be preparing for Scotland; it’s picking the starting XV.
With only one injury concern and strong performances from both starters and bench players in last weekend’s narrow loss to the Wallabies, Byrne says he has a real selection headache ahead of Saturday’s test match in Suva.
“We’ve got four world-class players,” Byrne said.
“So, you know, we could make a change, and we wouldn’t miss anything. It’s a great problem to have.”
Byrne said he and his staff will finalise the squad today, but with a short turnaround between games and only two tests this month, it’s difficult for non-starters to prove themselves.
“That’s not saying we won’t make the change either,” he added.
“But when you sit down, you go, well, I could also probably pick him and him and him. So hopefully we get it right on the day.”
One player who will likely miss out is veteran prop Peni Ravai, who is undergoing scans after picking up an elbow injury in New Castle.
“He’s probably a question mark,” Byrne confirmed.
“Everyone else is okay, just a few bruises from the game.”
The Flying Fijians are determined to bounce back after their 22-18 loss to the Wallabies, a match Byrne said revealed both strengths and shortcomings.
“There were a couple of areas around our breakdown which we were okay at, but we got better in the second half,” he said.
“We missed a couple of lineouts early; the boys took it personally and spent a good amount of time looking at that. So, we’ll work through those.”
Byrne expects another tough test against a Scotland side that edged the Māori All Blacks 29-26 last weekend.
“They’re going to bring real physicality into our game,” Byrne said.
“They’re very aggressive around the breakdown.”
Saturday will also mark the Flying Fijians’ first match in front of their home crowd this year, a moment Byrne says the players have been eagerly awaiting.
“It’s our first game at home and that’s what they’re really looking forward to,” he said.
This will be the 13th meeting between Fiji and Scotland. Fiji has only beaten them twice, the last win came in 2017, also in Suva.
With form building and combinations taking shape, Byrne’s biggest challenge might just be deciding who takes the field.
Kick-off is at 3pm at the HFC Bank Stadium.
