Down To The Wire: Baber

The Fiji Airways Fijian 7s team need to put on a high level performance for a strong finish at the final leg of the 2018/19 HSBC World Sevens Series.

Head coach Gareth Baber said the onus is on him to ensure that they achieve that in the London and Par­is tournaments.

“All teams will want to have a strong finish and we got to be at our best,” Baber said yesterday.

The London 7s is on May 26-27 while the Paris 7s will be from June 1-2. The Fijians with 142 points are trailing series leaders USA who have 145. The Clark Laidlaw-coached New Zealand are in thirld place with 130 points.

The top four teams from the Series automatically qualify to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

“I don’t look too far on other teams but I’ve got a big job to ensure that my players are where they need to be to perform at that level,” Baber said.

“We’re in a position to push for top spots and we have two tournaments to go and it’s down to the wire.

“Everybody is close to each other we really need to capitalise going into these two tournaments.

“We also know that every team is playing for something and that is being in the top four spots.”

Fiji Airways Fijian 7s rover Vilimoni Botitu during training at Albert Park, Suva on May 1, 2019. Photo: Ronald Kumar

Edited by Leone Cabenatabua

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