Flying Fijians eye improvements ahead of Pacific Nations Cup

Flying Fijians head coach Mick Byrne believes his team will be better heading into the 2025 Pacific Nations Cup (PNC), following their recent Test matches against the Wallabies and Scotland.

The Fijians lost a close match against the Wallabies in Sydney early July, but rebounded to win against Scotland a week later in Suva.

In a review of the team's performance, Byrne told RNZ Pacific there were a lot of positives he and his coaching team picked up, with key areas also needing work also identified.

"I think some of the key positives was our defence, especially in our back end," Byrne said.

"Over the last season, we probably gave away some penalties there and gave teams easy opportunities to kick to the corner or to get points. I thought our defence really stepped up and we were able to withstand a little bit of pressure there, which was pleasing.

"And I think also the work we are doing around the contact area, while we can always get better in that breakdown area, we felt that we made some good gains there as well."

Byrne said finishing off moves and plays needed work as Fiji focuses on defending their PNC series title.

"We created quite a few opportunities that we did not get across the line, or we just dropped the ball," he said.

"Our handling was a little bit down, so, probably just finishing off our plays is something we can focus on, and that just comes about from having more training time.

"Some players had not played for four or five weeks, so, the touch is a little bit out. But if we can get together for four or five weeks, I think we will see the improvement in our execution."

Byrne used the two matches to test his players, while also trying out combinations.

Fiji needs to keep winning matches and gain on world rankings for better placing in the pool draws for the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

Fullback Salesi Rayasi and young halfbacks Phillip Baselala and Samuel Wye were three players who made their debut in the white jersey against the Wallabies and Scotland.

"The pleasing thing is they did not look out of place with a white jersey on and that is always a good sign," Byrne said.

"They certainly did not look out of place during the week of training, which is always a good indication from a coaching group, when you see the players come in and train and they fit right in, and they do their job really well.

"I thought the three of them did themselves well when they came on, did their jobs that was required, and they've put their hand up for future selections."

The next step now for Byrne and his coaching team is securing players to take them through the PNC series.

The series starts off on 23 August with two pools of Pacific and Asia teams.

Pacific includes Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, while Asia has Japan, Canada and USA.

The Flying Fijians will kick off their campaign on 30 August against Tonga in Suva, before they meet Samoa in Rotorua on 6 September.

Byrne said players have returned to their respective clubs after the two test matches against the Wallabies and Scotland.

He and his staff are working through player availability for the PNC.

"Hopefully, we can put some sort of extended squad together by the end of next week, and then we can probably name our squad the following week," he said.

"We will just continue to work with our players to get everybody available. Obviously, we are going to put out the best team we can to defend our to defend the the PNC."

He said one of the key areas for Fiji is to check on all its players availability.

"We need the Northern Hemisphere players, there is a lot of them indicated they would like to come back and be part of PNC, but they need to get clearance from their clubs.

"Once we have got an understanding of our players availability then we have to get them all on the same page in that short period of time."

'Ikale Tahi camp

Meanwhile, Tonga's national rugby team, the 'Ikale Tahi, have also kicked off their PNC preparation with a team camp in Auckland.

Head coach Tevita Tuifua said the camp has brough players together for the first time.

Missing were some players who are currently committed to the National Provincial Championshop in New Zealand.

But former All Black Salesi Piutau and France-based Ben Tameifuna are two of the senior players in the squad who are in camp.

"We have some players in camp while there are others who are tied up with club commitments at the moment," Tuifua said.

"We hope that we can get everyone together before the PNC starts."

Tonga will meet the Queensland Reds in Nuku'alofa on 15 August in their only warm-up game before they host Manu Samoa on 23 August.

Both Tonga and Samoa will be fighting to secure spots at the 2027 Rugby World Cup, with the PNC doubling as a World Cup qualifier this year.

With Fiji and Japan having already qualified, Samoa and Tonga will have to battle against Canada and USA for the three Oceania spots available.