Letters: 5th March, 2019
Consequences and Support
Floyd Robinson, Toorak
One reads with interest the article entitled Learn and Move On (Fiji Sun 4/02/19), but the excuse of inexperience may not be ap- propriate.
In Hamilton, our men played with disci- pline and commitment, but sadly our in- discipline and individual play appears to have creeped into our team’s attitude. The yellow cards continue to haunt us repeat- edly. Individual play, leading to knock-on or turnovers by opposition at critical moments is costing us matches.
Our tackling is poor and exploited by teams like England, New Zealand and Aus- tralia.
Serevi once said that in rugby matches the boys get separated from the men but our men need to realise that there are conse- quences for their actions.
During competitive matches there is no second chances as referees adopt a zero tol- erance to high tackles. During his coaching period Ben Ryan was quick to respond to such situations by sometimes putting indis- ciplined players on the bench, starting as reserves or if not missing matches.
Even key players such as the then captain Kolinisau started off the bench in some matches.
Let’s continue to support our national team and may they find depth and self-belief on the coming days as they head to Canada.
Let’s hope that our coaching panel exploits the depth in players that we have before it’s too late because some are already being eyed by top rugby clubs
For example, hardworking and aggres- sive players such as Cakaubalavu deserve a chance in the starting line-up.
Fiji at Heart
Amrit Singh, Nausori
Win or lose Fiji always at heart when it comes to rugby sevens.
The Las Vegas 7s outing was disappointing though for the Fiji team. They lost three matches in the tournament and it may mean Baber needs to make few changes into the team for next week’s Vancouver 7s.
The team looked fatigued. Some players just couldn’t make good one-on-one tackles on opposition players.
Baber needs to change his training methods because the team simply looks tired running out of stamina/endurance after some gruelling training sessions.
All the best to the Fiji sevens team for Vancouver 7s this weekend.
Bad Dream
Ronnie Chang, Nadi.
For the Fiji Airways Fiji 7s team this tournament is nothing but a bad dream.
We came. We saw. We played. We were conquered. We just did not function as a well oiled high precision machine
We failed to deliver, much to the utter disappointment of thousands of die-hard Fijian supporters, world wide.
Our mental maturity and toughness let us down badly.
Fiji must put this Las Vegas nightmare behind us.
No ifs and no buts.
Fiji Airways Fiji 7s team players must redeem themselves in Vancouver, without fail, if we are to have that slightest chance for a 2019 HSBC 7s Series top finish.
