AFTER coming in to score the tries that ended Australia’s dream of taking the Las Vegas tournament last week, this week Kitione Taliga proved his worth once more.
The Wardens Rugby Club player did not allow national coach Ben Ryan to regret his decision of having him in his brigade as he took out the DHL Vancouver Impact Player title.
Superb in defence and flamboyant in his timed runs that allowed him to dot down seven tries at the Vancouver tournament of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, Taliga raked in 13 tackles, made nine breaks, 26 carries and five offloads in the tournament to get the award.
These stats also allowed the Vodafone Fiji 7s team to retain the impact player of the tournament in the third leg of the series.
In Las Vegas last week, Jasa Veremalua took out the title and Taliga has kept it in the Fijian side in Vancouver.
The DHL Impact Player Award is one that celebrates the efforts of players in the short code who enable great things to happen on the pitch.
It’s about celebrating players who make a great impact on the pitch where stats are tracked.
Taliga missed the Wellington and Sydney legs of the series when Amenoni Nasilasila and Alifereti Veivuke forced their way into the final team and in the past two tournaments the Nadi man has proved that he would be one player to watch in the lead up to Rio.
