Fiji Airways Fiji 7s men’s head coach Ben Gollings says while he is disappointed with the team’s past results on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, he is confident they can change things around in the next few tournaments.
After finishing as runners up at the Hong Kong 7s last November, the side has failed to make the final at the four past tournaments — falling to a low eighth-place finish in Cape Town in December.
Sitting in fifth place on the series points standing, “consistency” and “retention” will be key areas Gollings will drive into his players with six tournaments to go and automatic Olympics qualification on the line.
He said focusing on the basics and details at training would bring about consistency on the field.
“We’re obviously very disappointed with some of the results and each game is just about finite areas. You know, you win or lose on a bounce of the ball and it can be close, but we can also be quite detrimental,” he said.
“So the big focus for us is really on some of the basics and the detail, and making sure that we’re training that effectively so that that becomes kind of consistent in the games. And I think that’s the key.
“We just lacked a little bit of the consistency that we set as a standard when we first started.”
Gollings said communication on the field would be looked into to help with the team’s defence – an area the team failed on.
“In terms of defence, we just got to start talking more. We’re quiet and often that can happen when we’re starting to change players around. “These things we can we can work on and fix quite well. So I’m not too worried as much.
“We just got to keep working hard and the performances will come.”
He said players needed to understand the importance of keeping the ball in hand at the international level.
“You can get away with throwing the ball away a little bit at the local level and it doesn’t hurt you as much.
“At international level it can really hurt and cost you points and the ability to hold on to that ball is key.
“That’s a big focus for us and we’ve just gotta get back to being diligent with the ball.”
Gollings has a bit over two weeks to prepare a team for the American leg of the series and return to winner’s podium in Los Angeles and Vancouver.
The LA 7s will be held on February 25-26 followed by the Vancouver event on March 3-5.
