Twenty-two-year-old, Josua Vici is given the big responsibility of taking over from the injured Savenaca Rawaca in this weekend’s Fiji Airways supported Singapore 7s tournament.

This was confirmed yesterday by Vodafone Fijian 7s coach Ben Ryan after the Nadroga flyer got injured during the Cup semi-final clash against Australia in Hong Kong.

“Savenaca Rawaca had a slight pull of his hamstring so he is not going to play in Singapore,” Ryan said.

“I’m not risking him. We need to have good player welfare around our team. I think I will make a number of changes and refresh it because mentally as well as physically Hong Kong takes a huge amount out of you.”

He said other replacement players are likely to be Emosi Mulevoro, Nemani Nagusa, Alifereti Veitokani and Sevuloni Moceinacagi.

“I don’t think any team has won back to back, Hong Kong and Tokyo or now Hong Kong and Singapore for many years. It’s a tough place to come and win and then back it up so we are going to make some changes and give the other boys a chance.”

He also expressed how pleased he was with the player’s ability to perform well under pressure.

“The boys have all been in the pool doing recovery and obviously delighted with how we played under pressure in the tournament.

“We were patient, organised and in the break downs we made some very good decisions to beat New Zealand and back up our victory last year.”

Ryan added that Singapore is a new tournament and they are all excited about going over. The Vodafone Fijians are in Pool A where they face England, Samoa and Portugal

Edited by Leone Cabenatabua

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