It isn’t easy swallowing the fact that we bombed out at the Singapore 7s quarter-finals yesterday. Not after that amazing high at the Hong Kong 7s a week earlier.
It would have been difficult for many fans to comprehend the fact that we weren’t good enough a week later.
How can that be, one wonders? Especially when we were so confident, explosive, and dominant at So Kon Po?
How can that be, when we were ruthless and clinical against South Africa in the final at the Happy Valley?
That is the way it is though.
There are no longer any minnows in the game now.
And it becomes very tough to keep a steady roll-on into the second week after a dominant performance in week one.
The turnaround time is far too short … recovery time is affected and fatigue is a fact of life in these circumstances.
It is the team that is strategic, and better able to maximise recovery time that will be able to maintain peak performance over two weeks.
It can be done though, and the Blitzbokke proved it when they won the Wellington and Sydney 7s on the trot.
Then there are the star coaches like Mike Friday who are constantly analysing, critically picking up loopholes and chinks in our armour and varying their gameplans to suit the run of play.
So how did he cut short Fiji’s foray into the quarter-finals?
You just have to listen in at halftime to understand how this great sevens mind works.
Down 7-12 at halftime, we could still make a comeback in the second half.
We had done it many times before. In fact it wasn’t out of reach yet.
But, “breath”, Friday told the USA side at the break.
“Breath … you’ve gotta believe … they are breaking,” he said. A motivational intro!
“Keep the ball and we are in business … don’t get frustrated … no high shots … stay focused!”
He ordered his men to play the breakdowns if they did not get an advantage. The key though was in ball control. He knew the US needed to control possession, and frustrate Fiji.
Defensively he ordered the US to maintain their shape, keep moving forward and to “keep believing”.
That pep talk at halftime was all it took to keep Fiji out of the game.
Surely it does give us an insight into where our possible weaknesses are and what we need to initiate to propel us forward.
The rest is history. We succumbed, 19-24, to a US side that stuck to its guns, followed instructions and reaped the rewards.
They recycled possession, kept their defensive shape, kept their tackles low and pushed the clock.
As our team heads back home, let us continue to be the eighth man.
And today, let us remind ourselves to be mindful of safety issues as thousands of people head back to their respective destinations.
Let us be proactive, plan our journey well and most importantly, plan to arrive home safely.
