The Swire Shipping Fijian Drua get their 2023 Shop N Save Super Rugby Pacific season underway this afternoon against Moana Pasifika. Times Sport spoke to head coach Mick Byrne on how the preseason has unfolded, the inclusion of new players, the team’s leadership and what the goal is for the second season amongst the big rugby boys.
FT: How have the players been at training camp?
Byrne: We’re really happy with where the boys are at, sort of trying to keep an eye of where we’ve come from — when I think about where we were this time last year, where we are now, it’s a very exciting position we’re in. The ability to repeat efforts and fitness we have, the strength that’s in the gym. I know we’re not where we want to be and I know we’re a little bit behind other Super Rugby teams as far as how long we’ve been training and how we’re developing, but the number of PBs we’ve had in the gym, the number of PBs we set on the field is fantastic. I know we were starting from a low base and we’re not hiding away from that but the effort in the boys has been great. It’s quite exciting to see their ability to repeat their efforts, which is something that probably at times last year we were challenged by, but this year it’s been great and the boys are in a lot better shape than they were last season.
FT: Some of the boys have bulked up compared to last season.
Byrne: Yeah, they have. When they came in last year, a lot of people didn’t realise that they hadn’t done anything since October 2020. And the first time they’ve done any training is November 21. So it took us a good two to three months to get some training into them. This preseason we’ve had a good opportunity to have a good preseason buildup. Some of our boys are training harder than they’ve ever trained and they’re benefiting from it. You look around the body shape, some boys are in good shape.
FT: You’ve had a number of players making the transition from 7s to 15s rugby. How have they stood up to the change in training pattern?
It’s been good and I think they’re enjoying the body contact nature. Sevens footy there’s a lot of one on one contact and I think the boys are relishing the real traditional contact of the 15s game, having to fight through space, having to fight through contact and they’re enjoying that. And of course once they do get out into the open, then the sevens skills is a good skill set to have.
FT: You’ve chosen Meli Derenalagi as your season captain. Can you explain the rationale behind his selection?
Byrne: He’s going well, he’s a young captain. He stepped up last year and took over that role. The boys listen to him, he’s a mature man for his age. He’s a ratu; and developing as a ratu within the rugby environment. His leadership skills or his leadership qualities allow him to be very confident when he’s talking to the boys. And they all stop and listen to him which is a good thing. He’s growing in confidence. It’s been a big challenge for him because he hasn’t been able to train after coming back from an ACL. And I’ve always thought over my time that the quality of a leader is someone that can still lead even though they’re not able to (on the field). A lot of times there’s leaders that go into their shell, or people going into the shell when they can’t get out on the field. But he’s managed to maintain his leadership quality. He has been working extremely hard off the field but he hasn’t been out on the field amongst the boys and still delivering really strong messages. It’s a credit to him and his leadership has come on really well over the past few months.
FT: Last year, finding a number 10 was an achilles heel especially for the national team. Do you have plans to try and fix that with the Drua?
Byrne: We’re happy with the 10s we have in Teti Tela and Caleb Muntz. They’ve been going well, they’re working together and supporting each other. We’re happy that we’ve gotten both of them fit. When Teti started last year coming back from an Achilles and Caleb was coming back from shoulder surgery, so the fact that they’ve been able to have a good preseason, get really fit is good for us to be able to boss the game out on the field. Communication, the messaging needs to be consistent and that’s been something of benefit to us having both those players out on the field during preseason time.
FT: You’ve selected some players from your development squad into the senior team. A notable name is Philip Baselala who is just 18 years old. How has he adapted to the environment having just come out of high school?
Byrne: He’s a good young player coming through, he’s been in our development squad and come through the academy process with Bill (Gadolo, Fiji Rugby elite player pathway manager). When he started training with us, he wasn’t out of his depth at all as a young player. And when Simi (Kuruvoli) got injured, we needed to replace him. It was great to look at the syetem that’s been developing young players here in Fiji and be able to recruit somebody from within that system, and not have to go outside and look for a ready-made nine has been a testament to the program that’s been building but also testament to young Philip for the work he’s done since he’s come into the program.
FT: We finished with two wins last year and missed out on a quarter-final spot. Now that we know what Super Rugby is all about, what is the target this year?
Byrne: If we had won a couple more games last year, we would have been knocking on the doors of the finals, so definitely finals is our target. We’re gonna go after a spot for finals, we want to be playing rugby at the pointy end of the competition so to speak. To do that, we need to chalk up a few more wins. We believe that last year we missed out on a couple of games, if we knocked over those games we would have put ourselves in the finals. This year in those tight games we have a little bit more fitness. Get ourselves in the winning positions and be able to finish off a game.
