With less than six days to the Hong Kong 7s, Vodafone Fijian 7s head coach Gareth Baber is focused on getting some game time for his players.

The Osea Kolinisau captained-side had a practice match against Hong

Kong yesterday. They will take on Scotland in another friendly match on Tuesday.

Baber said these matches would give him and the players a chance towork on retaining the ball during the kickoffs and organise their defence.

“We got here on Thursday morning and we had two recovery days and played a game against Hong Kong this morning,” he told SUNsports.

“We will train on our own tomorrow and we will play another friendly game against Scotland on Tuesday.

It will be a good exercise for the boys in terms of getting some game preparations and we will be looking
a lot at our game especially on kickoffs and defence.

These are key areas ensuring that we retain the ball and that increases our percentage and success rate.

“These are very important and the games against Hong Kong and Scotland will give us an insight on what we need to work on before we actually play in the tournament.”

Knowing the big task ahead for the team to retain their title in Hong Kong, Baber said the players were in good spirits and looking forward to their first game.

Baber said with the top quality facilities they have been using at the Hong Kong Sports Institute, it would hopefully give them an edge.

“We are well looked after here in the institute. We got a good gym, swimming pool facilities and a pitch to train – all under one centre. Hopefully that will give us a little bit of an edge and that is what we are looking for all the time and let the players prepare in the way they need to,” he said.

“They know the immense pressure on them to do well and just having a good place to focus and train will really help the boys.”

The Vodafone Fijians will play their opening match against Japan on Friday at 11:32pm, Wales on Saturday at 5:12pm and New Zealand at 9:12pm.

Edited by Leone Cabenatabua

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