Fiji Airways Sevens tall tim­ber Joseva Talacolo should solve the kick-off woes for the side at the HSBC Los Angeles Sev­ens this weekend.

He showed his top form during training which included line outs and kick-off at the Lawaqa Park in Sigatoka on Tuesday before the side departed for the United States the same night.

“He (Talacolo) has been fantastic in the restarts. He adds that extra bit of height, adds that extra bit of threat,” said head coach Ben Goll­ings.

“It just means to say that now we’ve got threats across the board when it comes to kick-offs; with the opposition you have to be wary even if they mark him. It gives us opportunities elsewhere so it is real value adding when it comes to our kick-offs.

Fiji Airways Fijian sevens forward Joseva Talacolo (with ball) during the team’s training at Lawaqa Park, Sigatoka on August 23, 2022. Photo: Waisea Nasokia

“We didn’t want to go too hard. We’ve got to get on a long flight obviously to LA but just going through some details, getting a bit of connectivity still going. So all in all, a good session,” he said at La­waqa Park on Tuesday.

Fiji is in a tough pool alongside Wales, France and Ireland.

“We’ve got a great pool, Wales, France and Ireland, which is you know, I quite like it when we get a tough pool and we have tough matches. I believe we may cross over with New Zealand and South Africa.

“Our aim is to go out there and play and win and you’re going to do it that way. South Africa is playing at the moment, they had a bit of a doll patched in the halfway through the season, but I think their focus was obviously to pick themselves back.

“We saw them play exceptionally well. No doubt they’ve been work­ing hard and pushing hard. They may or may not have made changes, but certainly from our standpoint, and if we play them again we will be that much more ready.”

They face Wales on Sunday at 6:10am, take on France at 9:31am and last game against Ireland at 1:05pm.

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