Skipper confident of defending USA 7s title

Vodafone Fijian 7s captain Osea Kolinisau strongly believes that they can bounce back by defending the USA 7s title in Las Vegas.

The side returned yesterday from the 2016/ 17 World Sevens Series’ Wellington and Sydney tournaments. They were runners-up in Wellington before they were bundled out of the Cup quarterfinals in Sydney last Sunday. They however, managed to hit back and claimed the fifth spot after beating USA 35-12 in the playoff.

“We look forward to the break now,” Kolinisau told SUNsports.

“Then we look forward to going to Vegas with a much stronger mindset learning from what we faced from our pool games.

“We are going to learn from the mistakes we did in the Sydney tournament. It will only make us stronger.

“We will grow better as the series progresses. The series is not over yet, there is still a chance that they we can win it and the goal is still there.

“The South Africans are 20 points clear of us, and we have six more tournaments to go and it’s a possibility and we still have got something to look forward too.

“Fiji have been tested to the full by playing against South Africa, New Zealand, and England.”

Kolinisau said they have two weeks to iron out what they did wrong and work on new things.

“We need to focus on the areas we were exploited in especially on our defence and our discipline. It counts a lot and playing with six men is not always easy. One of the teams that can play with six men is Fiji and we showed that against New Zealand when we bounced back and that saw the caliber of players we have.

“When we come back from the two weeks we want to work on our tackle techniques and discipline to get better.”

Kolinisau said sevens rugby today is unpredictable.

“You can’t underestimate any team because every game is like a quarter-final even in the pool games.”

The veteran campaigner said he was proud on debutant Mesulame Kunavula, and Nacanieli Labalaba.

“Mesulame and Labalaba showed what they can do and give them a few more tournaments I think they will become household names.

“South Africa have been playing together for five years and we have five new boys. These boys came to camp and we trained together in Wellington and it is really a positive sign for Fiji.”

Edited by Leone Cabenatabua

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