THE Fiji Airways Fiji 7s team will need to step up in the HSBC World Rugby 7s Series in a bid to get automatic qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The Ben Gollings-coached side dropped to eighth spot on the HSBC WSS after losing to Argentina 10-19 in the quarter-final of the Hamilton 7s in New Zealand last week.
The top four teams from the 2023 HSBC WRSS will get automatic qualification to the next Olympics where Fiji is the defending gold medallist.
Fiji is pooled with France, Fiji, Tonga and Japan for the Sydney 7s which starts tomorrow.
Gollings said there was still a lot of rugby to be played in the series.
He said there were also a lot of points to be gained this season which would see a lot of movement.
“There are lots of teams who are top rated that are under the pump,” Gollings said.
“You saw Samoa last week had a similar situation. They won the tournament previously (in Cape Town) but then they dropped out into the bowl stages.
“So it kind of shows that competitiveness and that is where consistency is the key for us.
“The points are key for us and there are not a lot of points dividing a number of the teams so we have got to maximize points that we can get which is a big focus for us.
“That is why a top two finish this week is really important for us in terms of maximizing those points and then we take that on to the next few tournaments.”
The 2024 Paris Olympics will be held from July 26 to August 11. Six more tournaments remain on the HSBC WRSS after the Sydney 7s.
Gollings said there was a lot of rugby still to play. This week the side faces France, Tonga and Japan in Pool play. “It is one of those funny things that we are in an easier pool this time,” he said.
“Last week we had three really tough games. “This week you could argue that there are two medium games. “We know what France is like as we have been playing them regularly.
They seem to be the team we meet all the time but it doesn’t matter. “We will take every game seriously and treat every opposition with the same focus and the same mentality.
“We can’t afford to go out and rest on the fact that we are good on paper and we should beat these teams. “We have to go out there and put our performances in and build through this tournament as we look towards pushing into the top four at the end of it.”
Fiji will face Tonga at 4.50pm tomorrow, Japan at 11.28am on Saturday and then France at 5.33pm in their pool matches.
