Don’t Count Nacuqu Out

Good news for Fijian fans, as playmaker Waisea Nacuqu could force his way into the Fiji Airways Fijian 7s team for the final leg of the HSBC World Sevens Series in London and Paris later this month.

The Ba native who was ruled out with a broken collarbone at the Las Vegas 7s was back training and tak­ing hits during their team’s run at Albert Park, Suva on Wednesday.

Fijian 7s coach Gareth Baber said alongside Nacuqu, offload king Ka­lione Nasoko is also eager of mak­ing a comeback.

“They are back training with us. Obviously they are into early days of their rehabilitation in terms of their fitness level and their pro­gress.

“It’s important that we don’t rush players back. They need to work hard and earn that jersey again.”

POSITIVE SIGNS

Baber added that Jerry Tuwai has also shown positive signs after he sustained a hamstring at the Singa­pore 7s last month.

Other players looking sharp dur­ing training were speedster Alasio Naduva, Aminiasi Tuimaba, Ap­enisa Cakaubalavu, Terio Tamani and Mesulame Kunavula.

“The players are aware of what they want to achieve over the next five to six weeks. When you look at that first tournament its critical we get to the levels of performance we showed in Hong Kong and at times in Singapore.”

Baber added the team are always looking to improve particularly when considering the age and expe­rience of his players.

“If you look at that tournament in Singapore and the basic matches we were the 13th most experienced team in the whole competition.

“When you lose Jerry Tuwai, you lose 40 odd caps that we have got. One of the big things we pride ourselves on is the huge role we’ve played in developing these players as quick as possible.”

SERIES STANDING

The Fijians are in a strong posi­tion to win the World Rugby series title as they sit only three points be­hind leaders USA on the standing.

“We stole some points off USA coming out of Hong Kong and Sin­gapore. Now we need to capitalise on that going into the last two tour­naments. We also know that every other team is playing for something being in the top four sport or obvi­ously just a finish at winning the World Series itself.”

Pool A sees reigning series cham­pions South Africa face Argentina, Canada and Japan.

In Pool B Fiji will begin the de­fence of their London title against Samoa, France and Kenya.

Hosts England are drawn with New Zealand, Scotland and Ireland in Pool C, while current series lead­ers USA will take on Australia, Spain and Wales in Pool D.

GAME TIMES

Fiji face Kenya in their first pool match at 9.36pm (Fiji time) on Sat­urday, May 25, then play France at 12.42am (Fiji time) the following day before meeting Samoa in their final Pool C match at 3.48am (Fiji time).

 FRU Media

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