We are ready to roll – McKee
The Fiji Airways Flying Fijians moving into camp for the Pacific Test Series against the Maori All Blacks, Pacific Nations Cup and at the Rugby World Cup, Head Coach John Mckee said coaching staff are fully prepared and looking forward to hitting the ground with the players.
“I’m very excited about our first assembly this week. It’s very important camp for us as we build up toward the Rugby World Cup. There has been a lot of work that goes into planning the programme.”
He added that the way they have structured the Flying Fijians programme for this year is different in that they have set different focuses for each phase of the training.
McKee highlighted “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 Rugby World Cup.
He added “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 world class defence so we will be putting a lot of focus on the defence from the start of our campaign.”
McKee has left no stones unturned as he has also recruited world class technical and strength and conditioning coaches to help him ensure the 2019 World Cup team will be one of the best prepared Flying Fijians team.
He said despite the players coming off professional environment, they will still focus on improving their fitness level to test match levels.
“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”
McKee added “In the Rugby 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. These includes those coming from professional overseas clubs. So our conditioning needs to be specific to the intensities required so that the players can play full game no matter who the opposition is.”
McKee said they will also put a high priority on team culture and behaviours which plays a vital part in the performance of a team.
“We can have the world class programme, coaches and players but if the players don’t really follow the team culture and behaviour on a daily basis it will affect the team performance.”
The Flying Fijians begins is campaign against Maori All Blacks on the 13th of July at ANZ Stadium and then face each other in the return leg in Rotorua on the 20th of next month.
Fiji Airways Flying Fijians has moved into camp for the Pacific Test Series against the Maori All Blacks, Pacific Nations Cup and the Rugby World Cup, Head Coach John Mckee said they are pumped up and looking forward to hitting the ground with the players.
“I’m very excited about our first assembly next week. It’s very important year for us as we build up toward the Rugby World Cup. There is a lot of work that goes into planning the programme.”
He added that the way they have structured the Flying Fijians programme for this year is quite different. They have set different focuses in different works of training.
McKee highlighted “Certainly at the start for the first block and leading into the Maori All Blacks games, our big focus will be around the rug areas. 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 world class defence so we will be putting a lot of focus on the defence at the start of our campaign.”
McKee has left no stones unturned as he has also roped in some of the best technical and strength and conditioning coaches to help him field one of the best team this year.
He said despite the players coming off professional environment, they will still focus on improving their fitness level
“Particularly around our fitness side of things we need to make sure that we are improving ourselves technically around our skills and also improving ourselves tactically around the game plan and team strategy”
McKee added “A lot of ball in play time and high speed running which is something some of our players maybe not used to. It also includes those coming from professional overseas clubs. So our conditioning needs to be up to par so that the players can play the full game.”
McKee said they will also put a high priority on team culture and behaviours which plays a vital part in the performance of a team.
“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.”
The Flying Fijians begins is campaign against Maori All Blacks on the 13th of July at ANZ Stadium and then face each other in the return leg in Rotorua on the 20th of next month.