The Fiji Airways Fijiana 7s team are sweating it out over the Christmas break after a less than merry start to the season. The Fijiana finished 11th of 12 teams in the opening leg of the World Series in Dubai three weeks ago.

They were beaten by Ireland, Spain, Canada and South Africa before scraping past Japan 17-15 to avoid the wooden spoon.

Head coach Iliesa Tanivula said that they were all disappointed with their performance.

“We all sat down as a team and had a look at it and the players it’s good to see they’re taking responsibility themselves and for me it’s something I’ve got to look at and reassess our training programme before heading out to Sydney,” he said.

The Fijiana finished an impressive fourth on the World Series last season but Tanivula says they now accept their preparation for the new campaign wasn’t good enough.

He said the players would have the weekend off and Christmas Day but would be back on the training paddock come Tuesday.

“We’ve got a four weeks window so the intensity of training and the loading of training has really gone up a level. The girls are really feeling in at the moment but the response from them has been good and we’ve spoken about the performance in Dubai but we need to step up come Sydney and they really took that on board and I’m glad the girls are working harder,” he said.

The Fijiana would get an immediate shot at redemption when the World Series resumes in Sydney at the end of January.

They’ve been drawn in the same pool as Canada and Ireland once again and will also face Russia on the opening day.

Edited by Leone Cabenatabua

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