The Fiji Water Flying Fijians squad with the depth of players is focused on their preparation against the All Blacks at the Snap Dragon stadium, San Diego, United State next Saturday (July 20).

Speaking to SUNsports yesterday, head coach Mick Byrne said the players are cleared of any major injuries at camp.

“All the players trained yesterday (Monday) there were few little niggles – this is expected from a physical game against Georgia last week,” Bryne said.

“Caleb Muntz is running well but hasn’t joined training yet; we’re expecting him to join training later in the week.”

Byrne e hopes to retain the current squad for the Pacific Nations Cup in August.

“The growth in the Flying Fijians over the last couple of years with the inclusion of the Fijian Drua team has created a more professional depth than what was there originally,” he said.

“The depth of the squad has improved to the point where we’ll do our work and focus on ourselves,” he said.

“We need to prepare better and get our support around our players as we’re going against some well-resourced teams.”

Byrne said they will need to be more solid in defense against the All Blacks.

“We’ll need to limit their use of the ball and they’ll challenge us with the speed of the game they want to play,” he said.

“We’ll prepare accordingly the next two weeks.”

The match is part of New Zealand Rugby’s strategy to grow the All Blacks brand on American soil and raise the sport’s profile in the US.

US will host the 2031 and 2033 iterations of the men’s and women’s Rugby World Cups.

Those tournaments might seem quite a ways away, New Zealand Rugby chief executive officer (CEO), Mark Robinson, told Forbes last month, the decision to host back-to-back World Cups in the US “has provided a real north star for the sport.”

Feedback: ioane.asioli@fijisun.com.fj