McKee IDs Fiji's headline mistakes against Japan

Fiji head coach John McKee and his players return home tomorrow (Mon) determined to address the “critical mistakes” that undermined their cause against Japan who recorded a 34-21 win at the start of the Pacific Nations Cup (PNC) at the Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium

Fiji’s cause was not helped by the yellow card received by Filipo Nakosi in the first half and McKee wants to see more composure from his players as they prepare to take on Canada and Samoa.

McKee, whose team are the defending PNC title holders, saw Sam Matavesi score a brace of tries to open his test account and said: “We going to take some very quick learnings from the Japan game. Once we were behind and chasing in the game, we lacked composure to build the pressure and also we tried to force the play too much which resulted in turnovers.

“In defence we made some critical mistakes, little system errors where players either didn’t understand their role probably or didn’t execute their role as they should have. We made some good breaks but we were not able to build the pressure as we were forced a last pass or offload which was turned over.”

The Flying Fijians arrive home tomorrow(Mon) and will link up with those players left behind to concentrate on individual training following the drawn series with the New Zealand Maori All Blacks.

McKee added “We will get back to Fiji on Monday morning and link up with the players who have been training at home, to prepare for the match against Canada. We are looking forward to getting back to home and also for wins on home soil for our fans. “

Fiji face Canada next Saturday at Suva’s ANZ Stadium and play Samoa at the same venue on August 10. Canada got off to the worst possible start to their PNC campaign as they prepare for the World Cup with a 47-19 drubbing from neighbours USA Eagles.