You’ve got to admit it isn’t going to be easy to shrug aside the exploits of Samisoni Viriviri. Not any time soon anyway, now that he has been crowned the 2014 IRB Sevens Player of the Year.
Dominated by members of the New Zealand sevens teams over the years, Viriviri is the first Fijian player to win the award.
He joins big names such as 2013 winner Tim Mikkelson; 2012 recipient Tomasi Cama; 2011 winner Cecil Afrika; 2010 winner Mikaele Pesamino; 2009 winner Ollie Phillips; 2008 recipient DJ Forbes; 2007 winner Afeleke Pelenise; 2006 winner Uale Mai; 2005 winner Orene Ai’I; and 2004 recipient Simon Amor.
It was definitely a fitting gift for the speedster who will leave for France soon to take up a contract with the Montpellier club in the Top 14 competition.
The award effectively rounds off what has been an impressive season for Viriviri.
He finished as the top try scorer in the 2013/2014 Sevens World Series, crossing the white wash for a massive 52 tries this season. Viriviri beat fellow nominees Kyle Brown of South Africa, Tim Mikkelson of New Zealand and Tom Mitchell of England to the award.
And that wasn’t enough though. He was also named in the 2014 IRB Sevens Dream Team.
While there were many heroes for the national squad this season, there was no doubt about the fact that the highest accolades were reserved for Viriviri.
He was on fire throughout the season and slowly developed into a dangerous finisher.
He was strong in defence and packed pace to burn.
He brought confidence into the team and was a tower of strength in attack and defence.
His combination with rover Donasio Ratubuli was slowly developing into a lethal package in Ben Ryan’s plans.
While it is definitely sad to see the gifted player depart our shores, there is now an opportunity for another speedster to take the limelight.
Now more than ever, there is an urgent need to have contractual arrangements in place to help us nurture a team that can continue to turn heads well into the future.
The onus is now on the governing body to ensure Ryan can have some consistency in the composition of the national side.
Understandably there will be areas to fix as we prepare for the new season and look ahead to the Olympics in Rio in 2016, but clearly there have been a number of impressive improvements in key areas that Ryan will no doubt be happy with.
It was good to see players such as Semi Kunatani and Vatemo Ravouvou thinking in motion, making sound decisions on the move.
It was good to see glimpses of the improved level of support play on attack.
At the end of the day though, congratulations are cetainly in order for Viriviri, our man of the moment.
