Japan 2019 is not Mick Byrne’s first World Cup rodeo.
The Wallabies skills coach is working on his sixth Rugby World Cup campaign, having begun with Australia two decades ago, in 1999.
Byrne worked as a kicking coach for Australia’s 1999 champions before they travelled to the tournament, was with Scotland in 2003, New Zealand in 2007 and was part of the staff of New Zealand’s 2011 and 2015 winning sides, splitting his time between New Zealand and Japan in that 2011 campaign.
He has seen most of what a World Cup can throw up, part of the All Blacks outfit forced to go down to their fourth flyhalf Stephen Donald in that 2011 tournament.
And what has he learned from those experiences? It’s simple.
“For me it's being able to keep the days as normal as possible so everyone knows it's a big event and everyone knows it's a great opportunity but I just know that we've just got to get on,” he said.
“Each day's just another day of work that we're going to turn up and get right and enjoy it and have some fun doing it and make sure everybody keeps the enthusiasm for the game.
“There's days off and it's making sure they're enjoying their days off and they're enjoying their days on.
“You've got to be enjoying it, that's the number one thing.
“It's a great sport we're in and it's a great opportunity and this is a great facility.
“I've used the word great four times there but it's pretty much what it is.”
Enjoyment and balance are two concepts the Wallabies have spoken about plenty already in the lead-up to the World Cup.
After last weekend's Samoa Test, Wallabies coach Michael Cheika praised the group as the most connected he had seen in his tenure and flyhalf Bernard Foley echoed that sentiment on Sunday.
“I have to agree, the guys have worked extremely hard on the field but then off the field the connections have definitely been building,” he said.
“It’s always hard not come together as a national side because everyone has their own biases and come from Super Rugby and you play against each other but then especially in a World Cup year guys have really worked hard at building those bonds and connections and doing things off the field has definitely made us a tighter squad.”
On the training track, Byrne said he was confident as well that Australia’s kickers had ironed out some patchy performances before next weekend’s opener.
Bernard Foley missed his first three shots at the post against Samoa in Sydney while Christian Lealiifano had some costly misses in Australia’s 36-0 loss to the All Blacks in Auckland last month.
Matt To’omua or Kurtley Beale are the other regular kickers who could be rolled out if needed but Byrne said he was confident that the Wallabies’ kickers had straightened things out at training.
“They're going well,” he said.
“They've had a couple of misses - I'm not being flippant when I say that.
“They've been kicking well at training, they kicked well again yesterday so I'm confident they're in great shape.
“Kurtley's keeping himself tuned up and we want all our guys...Nic White had a couple of shots the other day so we just want all our guys to be ready to go.”
Australia takes on Fiji at the Sapporo Dome on Saturday September 21, kicking off at 1:45pm local, 2:45pm AEST, LIVE on Foxtel, Network Ten and via RUGBY.com.au RADIO.
