Coach Gareth Baber and the Fiji Airways Fijian 7s team are in for a long and tough season.

We lost our footing at The Sevens in Dubai and we are in for a rough ride in the remaining nine stops of the 2019-20 World Sevens Series.

We are 14 points adrift to series leader South Africa (22) as we go into second tournament this weekend.

Our men face a test of character being defending champions of the Cape Town Sevens and the series.

And they need to man up, play like champions.

Our 7s status took a pounding in Dubai over the weekend and we can’t afford to be humiliated again.

Our reps need to fear humiliation and put on a display worthy and expected of them instead of a ‘sixes and sevens’ show.

They will do it the hard way at Cape Town after we failed to reach the Cup quarterfinal for the first time in 21 years.

We are paying the price for playing below our best being slotted in a ‘pool of death’ against USA, South Africa and Japan.

But real champions learn to rise from the fall and reclaim their true status.

A case in point is boxer Anthony Joshua who was floored four times by Andy Ruiz Jr in June. Over the weekend in Saudi Arabia, he danced around a hapless Ruiz to win by unanimous points’ decision.

This is a mark of a true champion who feared being humiliated again after learning from defeat,

Baber and his men know what went wrong and can’t afford to repeat the same mistakes again.

We can’t afford players being sent off in every game as was the case in Dubai.

We need to start afresh and do it right this weekend.

The World Rugby Sevens Series- as competitive as it is right now- is all about grabbing opportunities.

All teams have closed the door on Dubai and will start the week fresh as new challenges await in Cape Town.

Everyone start from scratch again. As for men, we can’t afford another slip.

Pool A: South Africa, USA, Fiji, Japan, Pool B: NZ, Argentina, Canada, Wales, Pool C: England, France, Spain, Scotland, Pool D: Samoa, Australia, Ireland, Kenya.

Edited by Leone Cabenatabua

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