The Fiji Airways Fijian 7s players have to be at their best if they are to survive today’s pool matches.

The Fijians are the top seed in Pool A where they take on the Kameli Soejima captained- Japanese side, England and Samoa.

Speaking to SUNsports yesterday, head coach Gareth Baber said there are certain areas of the oppositions that they need to give attention to when they play them.

“There are certain things that we need to do because they are not easy oppositions,” Baber said.

“We trained very hard before we head into a game and try to get the performance and the mindset of the players to deliver their best.

“There are tactics that we want to use when we play against a few teams for instance Eng­land where we’ll need to play a structured game while Samoa will be more a physical en­counter.”

Baber said it would hard for them to repeat their winning performances as the other teams would be very much aware this time.

“Like any other team we need to work on the consistency of our performance. Looking at our performance last year we mostly had wins in the second leg and that proves our players ability to back up their performances.”

The Welshman said there are similar pro­cesses that they normally go through in terms of areas of their games from last week as this will make the players much better.

“So last week’s gone and we need to see what’s ahead of us and the game we need to play. We talked a lot about how to deliver during the game and we’ll make it happen.”

CAKAUBALAVU GETS NOD

Rookier forward Apenisa Cakaubalavu has stepped in for Paula Dranisinukula after Baber announced his 12-member squad.

Cakaubalavu narrowly missed selection for Hamilton and Baber applauded the young for­ward’s effort on the training track in pushing hard for a return to the tournament 12.

“I mentioned last week it was a tough deci­sion to not select Apenisa as he has been work­ing very hard at training and pushing the squad to produce their best,

“He has again proven himself on the field this week and we know he can do the job he needs to do this weekend.

“Dranisinukula steps back into 13th man this week as we manage his workload and return to full strength. We are fortunate to have this kind of depth in our ranks.” said Baber.

He reiterated all other squad members were at full fitness.

“The boys have had a good week, we’ve had the captain’s run, they’re getting themselves ready to go and we’re looking forward to the challenge ahead, starting with Japan first up” he said.

FINAL 12

Cakaubalavu, Kalione Nasoko (C), Josua Vakurinabili, Meli Derenalagi, Mesulame Ku­navula, Sevuloni Mocenacagi, Seremaia Tu­wai, Waisea Nacuqu, Terio Tamani, Vilimoni Botitu, Aminiasi Tuimaba, Alasio Naduva

– Edited by Leone Cabenatabua

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