Cameron Munster surveyed Australia’s 42-8 World Cup victory over Fiji at Headingley in their first match in almost three years and said: “We should have scored more points.”
The tournament favourites, who had last played in November 2019, will be seeking further improvement when they take on Scotland in their second Group B game in Coventry on Friday.
Coach Mal Meninga is set to include the four squad members who were involved in the NRL Grand Final, having left them out against the Bati in order to provide additional recovery time.
And Melbourne Storm halfback Munster added: “While we were happy overall, we were a bit rusty in our execution, so we’ll go back to the drawing board and hopefully be a little bit better.”
Munster praised Fiji, semi-finalists in the previous three World Cups, explaining: “They’re a passionate group, and after their (pre-match) hymn, we knew they’d come at us strongly in the first 15 minutes, and we did well to combat that.
“Fiji are a talented team with raw talent all over the park. They can create tries out of nothing, and they can still go well in this tournament.”
Meninga, who will be missing forward Reuben Cotter against Scotland after he failed a head test, said: “I’m really happy with our defence. The effort and the attitude was spot on. Everything we asked of our players, they did.
“There are a few things to fix up with the ball in hand, and our cohesion wasn’t where it needs to be, but with more training and matches, we’ll hopefully grow as the tournament goes on.”
Fiji prop Tui Kamikamica said: “We started off well, but we need to fix up some of the things in the second half like our discipline and giving them soft penalties.
“One of the key points is we need to work on our defence, especially on our own line, to be more resilient.”
