The challenge for the Fiji Airways Men’s and Women’s National 7s teams for the next three tournaments is to identify what elements of their games that they are going to target to be able to progress to the point where they know they are getting it more right.
This was highlighted by former Fiji Men’s 7s and Olympic gold medallist and current National Program Manager for Fiji 7s, Gareth Baber during fijivillage Straight Talk with Vijay Narayan after being asked about his thoughts on the Fiji Men’s 19-tournament losing streak in the HSBC SVNS World Series.
Baber says they will also need to identify the elements of their game to the point where they are getting the ticker or marker more to the positives than the negatives.
He says this is ultimately where the players’ confidence, belief and consistency of performance comes from.
He adds that is also how they find the ability to replicate a technique time and time again with accuracy under pressure which is what we Fijians are known to be the best for in the world.
Baber says it is hard for him to criticise the 19-tournament losses because he doesn’t know what former Fiji 7s coach Ben Gollings’ environment was like and how he thought about the players’ performance.
He says the reality is that coming into the Olympic year, the team would want to see themselves in that top 2 position more often.
Baber says when the team win tournaments, or when they find themselves in the top 2, they start to realise that is the real power that they have and they can work on that.
Meanwhile, the Fiji Men’s 7s team will begin their Hong Kong 7s campaign against Australia at 9.30pm this Friday.
They will then take on Canada at 12.33am Saturday and play France at 5.43pm Saturday in their final pool match. The Fijiana 7s side will play Australia at 4.25pm Friday in their first match, followed by their match against South Africa at 7.12pm Friday, and they will play Ireland at 3.02pm Saturday in their final pool match.
The Hong Kong 7s will be held from Friday to Sunday.
