Swire Shipping Fijian Drua coach Mick Byrne says they will need to work on a few areas before their Shop N Save Super Rugby Pacific season kicks off against Moana Pasifika on February 28.
The match will be held at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand in what will be a Pacific battle between the two newbies in the competition.
The Drua had a Super Rugby Pacific hit out against the Melbourne Rebels at Prince Charles on Saturday with the hosts winning 24-0.
While pleased with his players carries in that match, Byrne was able to pick a few areas that were wanting against a strong Moana side.
“We need to look at our contact area because Moana Pasifika is one of the more stronger ball carrying defensive ruck teams so we’ll look to take a look at that,” Byrne said.
“I thought we were a bit loose around some of our ball carries especially early on in contact.
“We know Moana will really come hard at us so it really should be a great atmosphere at Mount Smart there in south Auckland.”
He said assessing from the Rebels match, it was still much work in progress following their first real contact game in a while.
“I think the conditions turned on at the start, it was pretty wet and slippery.
It was pleasing that we stuck to our systems and we worked through the process.
“I know they all sound a bit of a cliche but for this team to be able to come in our first game and stick to our systems was really pleasing.
“We held onto the ball a little bit better in those slippery conditions wold have been fine but it was slippery for them as well.
“First games of the year are always sort of slippery and rusty.
“Just the way we carried the ball. I though it was bit too high, it’s always the same in the first game. It takes a while to get it in your habits.
“We were carrying a bit high al[1]lowing them to get beneath us. I think our boys did that a bit better in the second half and got over the game line a bit better.”
