THE Year 2015 has come to an end and we look back at the highlights of the sporting year which was the Rugby World Cup.
Times Sport has decided to interview Nacanieli Saumi, the first Fijian to become a director of rugby and head coach for a 1st division club in a tier one nation.
During his time at Plymouth Albion Rugby Football Union club he coached and developed various international players including Canada skipper In the 2015 RWC whom he coached from the age of 17.
A former national sevens rugby rep and fullback for Suva and Nadroga he has a wealth of knowledge, having worked with international teams as consultant.
A soft-spoken guy who likes to keep a low profile and does not want to advertise his achievements, we have been able to influence him to share some of his thinking on rugby in the 2015 RWC and as we prepare for the 2019 RWC in Japan.
Profiles
* Name: Nacanieli Saumi
* Birthplace: Sigatoka Hospital, Nadroga
* Birthdate: 3rd September 1970
* Village: Savudrodro, Savusavu, Cakaudrove with maternal links to Korotogo, Baravi, Nadroga
* Primary school: Lami Fijian School & Tamavua Primary School
* Secondary school: Ratu Kadavulevu School
* Occupation: Professional Rugby Coach & Sports Consultant.
* Rugby position: Fullback & Centre
* Rugby playing record: Suva Rugby Union1988 – 2000;Nadroga Rugby Union 1999; Fiji Sevens rep 1995 – International Sevens, Hong Kong Sevens, Japan Sevens.
* Overseas club: Redruth RFC, England (1996 – 1998); Cornish Pirates RFC, England (1998 – 2003); Plymouth Albion RFC, England (2003 – 2013)
* Qualification (Coaching etc.): World Rugby (IRB) Level IV Coach; Director of Rugby & Head Coach – Plymouth Albion Rugby Football Union
Times Sport
What is your view on the Flying Fijian’s performance in the 2015 Rugby World Cup?
Nacanieli Saumi
During the RWC tournament, my personal view of the Flying Fijians as we have watched and acknowledged is the massive improvement of the set-piece especially scrimmaging, as it has been our Achilles heel during the yesteryears.
Our line-outs has been consistent because of the enormous experience that most of our senior players have acquired during their engagement in the professional rugby environment and it was a spectacle to see turnover possessions from set pieces especially against tier one nations.
Times Sport
What areas did we fall short on and need to improve and work on
Nacanieli Saumi
One of the major setbacks for our national team was their weakness in attack during matches. There was laxity in their approach to attacking rugby on set and phase plays as players displayed a sense of unfamiliarity in their patterns of play while contributing to a high number of slow ball plays.
This enabled oppositions to accelerate defensive line organisation as we lose forward momentum and the only option was to kick the ball to gain yardage while giving away possession.
The basic core skill of realignments, accurate running lines with good timings, decoy running with conviction to engage opposition defence, creating space for forward momentum to defined ball players are some of the fundamental aspect of team attack that were lacking.
There are a lot of suggestions that the Flying Fijians has to play to their strengths which is to “throw the ball around and play what is in front of them” or play unstructured rugby. My personal thesis is, you have to implement structured rugby to play unstructured rugby. Houses are built with structures so with no structure, a house is non-existence.
Times Sport
They worked hard on the strength aspect of fitness and succeeded in having a powerful scrum. Can they be strong and powerful in scrums as well as faster and be more agile and flexible at the same time?
Nacanieli Saumi
Well, this is where elite rugby coaches and sport science personnel come in to gather and identify statistical information about the players and work out the type of rugby you would like to manifest, and train the players for adaptation to this formulated structural rugby framework.
Coaches have to get a balance between concentrating on team organisation in an effort to win and individual development.
It seems that we tend to be interested in bulk rather than skills.
Rugby is a game of space, speed and being tough.
I despise the expression “ball-carrier”, which is used so often. It means a player being asked to run straight and smash into the opposition and is totally self-limiting. Ball-carriers win you nothing, ball-players can take on the world. With this in mind there are a few things we need to address.
Firstly, fitness. There is much talk about elaborate fitness camps and everybody reaching new levels but they appeared heavy and slow.
The Flying Fijians seems to tire after five phases as slow ball tend to be repetitious questioning their fitness or fatigue as most of our players play their rugby in the northern hemisphere. Strong, undeniably, but the days when brute strength and power win you anything are long gone. Wales and Australia in our pool looked exceptionally fit to me.
Secondly, there are some very skilful players in the Flying Fijians but often they do not showcase their skills during this high intensified competition.
Basic core skills need repetitive practice and that is one of the fundamental laxity in Fijian players as they are easily bored on this aspect of training so they need more education on rugby core basic processes. Repetitive practice makes perfect.
For example, everybody in the New Zealand side can handle brilliantly and Australia and Argentina are not far behind. New Zealand lock Brodie Retallick looked as much at ease on the ball as Dan Carter.
Rugby is about finding space, but we have totally forgotten how to find it.
“Let the ball do the work” is an old rugby saying usually directed at eight-year-olds. But it is our elite rugby players who need reminding of this right now.
The speed and accuracy of the pass or even a willingness to even look to pass is often missing.
The final piece that needs addressing is the coach’s implemented rugby structural framework and its patterns deliverance to the players understanding.
These will guide players to identify and apply key decision making processes during training and competition phase. It will contribute to likely quick ball (LQB) in all phase plays thus creating spaces for team opportunities n Continued tomorrow
