The Telecom Fijiana side believes there is more room for improvement following their fourth place finish in the Women’s Sevens Series in Kitakyushu, Japan.

Much of the team’s hard work came to fruition when they first reached their debut semifinal. However, they eventually lost to New Zealand 0-21, and then played in a Bronze medal playoff and lost to Australia 17-19.

This is the highest achievement by the team ever.

Coach Iliesa Tanivula said their aim now was to get better.

“Our aim is to get better. You are only as good as your last performance and we want to get better on that,” he said.

He said one of their main focuses was decision making.

“I guess that comes back to our preparations, for me it is something I got to look at and try and emulate during the training.

“And again, we do not have local competition, and we should have rugby awareness and have that right. And it is something we are going to try and play every time.

“The boys’ sevens have a lot of advantage too, because they have a lot of sevens tournaments around the country.”

Speaking about the Telecom Fijiana side, Tanivula said: “They have done the hard work and in regards to the conditioning and game awareness I am really proud of the way they performed.”

With three weeks left for their next tournament, Tanivula says it is vital for the side to get to know their weaknesses and improve.

“As always, they are good at their last game and we are going to work on some more cons, and try and get it done by the next three weeks before Canada.

“Ana Maria, the captain, has been leading the team well. She leads from the front, and it is huge for a captain, and she does that really well for the team and we are really proud of her.”

Injury update

“We have not had any major injuries, and to have a consistence in high performance, you need consistency from players and in selection as well and it is something I got to look at.

“We have done a lot of the field, and I guess it shows on the field. And we still can improve and we have a lot to work on,” he said.

The side have a couple of days off before they begin work again next Monday.

The team will now focus on the next three weeks of preparation before participating in the fifth leg of the Series in Langford, Canada on May 27-28.