'It's very pleasing so many of our players are with top professional clubs'
John McKee is confident his Fiji players will not be intimidated at a World Cup where they face Grand Slam champions Wales and two-time winners Australia in one of the toughest pools in the tournament.
The success of Fijian players in Europe, where Leone Nakarawa (Racing), Vili Mata (Edinburgh), Semi Radradra (Bordeaux) and Josua Tuisova (Toulon), have become key weapons for big-spending clubs, has changed the mentality of McKee’s squad and he will use their individual success to try and guide his squad into the quarter-finals in Japan.
McKee, who has started the squad’s pre-finals training camp in Fiji, told Fiji Village: “When you look across our playing group and you see the talents of our players, we have some very gifted athletes.
“For me, it’s very pleasing that so many of our players are with top professional clubs, particularly in Europe, and play some of the top competitions around the world.
“That experience helps when they come back to play for us because they are facing the best players in the world in the European Cup. That type of competition means they are more familiar with the opponents they are going to come up against at the World Cup.”
Flying Fijians coach & captain believe that Fiji can become one of the most dangerous teams with a little hard work
The Flying Fijians begin their campaign against the Maori All Blacks at ANZ Stadium in Suva next Saturday.#Fiji #FijiNews #SportsNews https://t.co/R32fp7iiy4 pic.twitter.com/rUE86gbyfG
— fijivillage (@fijivillage) July 2, 2019
The Flying Fijians begin their warm-up matches against the Maori All Blacks at the ANZ Stadium in Suva on July 13 and play a return game in Rotorua that will be followed by Pacific Nations Cup games with Japan, Canada and Samoa.
After the World Rugby Series-winning Fiji Sevens squad dealt with a number of off-the-pitch problems during their campaign, McKee has made it clear to his players that they need to remain totally focussed on the job in hand.
He explained: “We can have the world-class programme, coaches and players, but if the players don’t really follow the team culture and behaviour it will automatically going to affect the team performance.
Yes, it has started. The Fiji Airways Flying Fijians got the feel of the blistering sun with a fitness test this afternoon. They all look in good shape and healthy. #itsfijistime pic.twitter.com/rVxyFYAWE1
— Fiji Rugby Union (@fijirugby) July 1, 2019
“This is a very important camp for us as we build towards the World Cup and there has been a lot of work that goes into planning the programme. Certainly, at the start for the first block and leading into the Maori All Blacks games, our big focus will be around the ruck areas.
“I can see this is going to be a critical area for performance in the World Cup. Also, our defence as it is massively important. We know we have got very good attacking players who can score tries. We equally need to have a world-class defence, so we will be putting a lot of focus on the defence from the start of our campaign.
“We need to balance the fitness side of training with improving ourselves technically around our skills and also improving ourselves tactically around the game plan and team strategy.
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“In the World Cup, there will be a lot of ball-in-play time and high-speed running in matches, which is something some of our players maybe not used to. This includes those coming from professional overseas clubs.
“Our conditioning needs to be specific to the intensities required so that the players can play a full game no matter who the opposition is.”
WATCH: Part two of the two-part RugbyPass documentary on the many adventures that fans can expect to experience in Japan at this year’s World Cup
Comments on RugbyPass
Just came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
4 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
4 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
4 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
4 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
3 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
3 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
228 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
87 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
19 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
30 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
1 Go to commentsABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
228 Go to comments