The Telecom Fijiana side suffered a setback to their campaign when they suffered a 19-12 loss to Ireland during the 2016/17 World Sevens Series at the Allianz Stadium in Sydney yesterday.

A disappointed captain Ana Maria Roqica said lack of communication on the field coupled with poor support play resulted in their loss.

“I did not expect this from the players,” she told SUNsports.

“It was a really rough start for us and it was disappointing because we wanted to have a good start in the tournament.

“Ireland took advantage of our mistakes and we paid for it. Again I really did not expect this from the girls since they have been training hard and putting a lot of work into their preparation.”

Coach Iliesa Tanivula was also unhappy with the team’s performance but said they really needed to learn from the loss.

“It was very disappointing to lose our first game. We did a lot of mistakes on the field and Ireland punished us for that.

“But while we want to win, we needed to learn from our mistakes to make sure it does it not happen again,” he added.

Edited by Leone Cabenatabua

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