Brian McDermott on his role with Fiji and “very good” England

Drew Darbyshire
Brian McDermott Fiji PA

Brian McDermott says he is looking forward to working with Fiji after the World Cup after they tasted defeat to England in a warm-up match. 

The Bati suffered a disappointing 50-0 defeat to World Cup hosts England in a warm-up match in Salford ahead of the tournament getting underway in a week’s time.

“There’s not much to take out of it,” said McDermott, who has recently joined Fiji’s backroom staff for the World Cup. “We didn’t get much right. England were very good.

“We’ll try not to take too much out of the game negatively but we will see if there are any positives. Not much went right. We incurred a helluva lot of people coming off the field. Some of them injured for the next two or three weeks I would imagine. Some of them came off just as precaution.

“They’re hurting, they are really disappointed with the performance and they know it. It is really important we stick together so talk of who might come in or who might change things is not for tonight.

“In my time so far with the players I know they are a very tight group, very passionate and very loyal to each other. They are very genuine with it as well, it’s not just words. There is a whole group of people who are disappointed but if that’s how ugly we can be, then we can work on that.”

Brian McDermott excited for Fijian journey

McDermott, who recently resigned as Featherstone head coach, has joined Fiji’s coaching staff for the World Cup, assisting head coach Joe Dakuitoga.

“I’m just helping out with the coaching,” McDermott said when asked about his role. “Joe is the head coach.

“Dave Furner was the coaching director but he couldn’t come over. He gave me a call asking if I’d step in. I stepped in with not much notice. In the few days I’ve been with them, they are a fantastic group and really good people to be around. They work incredibly hard and I’m looking forward to the next few weeks.”

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