LACK of match fitness has been cited as Vodafone Fiji’s downfall at the World Rugby under-20 Trophy Championship in Portugal.
The national side won its first pool match against the hosts 34-19 but lost to Georgia 30-13 and Uruguay 28-26 to be forced to the playoff for the fifth and sixth spot against Namibia.
Fiji won that fixture 32-24.
Fiji U20 coach Bill Gadolo said the opening win against Portugal wasn’t a polished effort as it should have been.
Gadolo said their downfall was the loss to Georgia.
“We were disappointed with the outcome of the game against Georgia,” he said.
“After that, the boys failed to reload and get back on track before meeting Uruguay in the next three days.
“Apart from the disappointments and the negativity that we can derive from the games, there is always a positive side to everything.
“I guess the thing for us is being able to expose the 26 players to a different level of competition.
“The pool that we played in had teams that played different pattern of game.”
Georgia defeated Canada 49-24 to win the tournament and move up to the Tier One competition next year.
Gadolo said the structure of the local U20 competition needed a relook.
He said countries spent a lot of time preparing for the international tournaments.
“We had two months to prepare while Georgia, that won the tournament, had two years,” Gadolo said.
“The emphasis for us maybe is to relook at overall things like the format of our competition in the U20.
“One of the biggest areas that we lacked in was match fitness. We only played four games before that competition.
“In the last one against Counties, the players featured well.”
