Fiji Rugby Chairman Peter Mazey confirms that any decisions regarding the coaching staff of the national 7s team would only be made after thorough discussions with all parties including players and support staff.
Mazey says the Fiji Rugby Union remains fully committed to supporting its current coaching staff and players, fostering a positive environment for all our national teams.
He confirms the information circulating in various media outlets has been misconstrued, and the FRU Board wishes to clarify the situation to avoid any confusion amongst the public especially as this is affecting the players.
The Fiji Rugby Football Union Trust Board convened a scheduled meeting on Monday wherein discussions were centred around the regular operational matters concerning the Rugby House.
Mazey says in the board meeting, they met to receive departmental reports, operations budgets for 2024 and to review this year’s domestic tournament plans as they get ready to meet Union members today.
As part of the trustee’s review procedure following every tournament, the High Performance Unit General Manager and the Board conduct a review, meeting with the coaches and the teams in this instance, the Fiji Airways 7s teams.
Mazey says this review aims to assess the team's performance and identify areas for improvement.
Fiji Rugby Union Interim Administrator, Simione Valenitabua said no comments when asked by fijivillage News on whether the FRU is having any talks with former NZ 7s coach, Sir Gordon Tietjens regarding the Fiji Airways National Men’s 7s coach position.
After the team’s 17th tournament loss under current coach, Ben Gollings, many fans are saying that some serious soul searching is needed as we approach the Paris Olympics in July.
Fiji is struggling in the areas of retaining possession, carrying out set pieces, losing balls at kick offs, losing lineouts despite the height advantage, lack of support play, lack of defensive structure, poor game management and relying on individual brilliance to get into the game.
Valenitabua confirms that the trustees, the General Manager High Performance and the Manager High Performance for Women meet with the coaching team and players of the Fijian 7s and Fijiana 7s after each tournament and are currently waiting for coach Ben Gollings to return later in the week to go over the Perth 7s performance.
The Fiji Men’s 7s are in Pool A in the upcoming Vancouver 7s alongside Argentina, Canada and Spain.
The Vancouver 7s will be held from the 23rd to 25th February 2024.
We are still trying to get Gollings on the performance of the team and the plans going forward.
Stay with us for updates.
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