Stay Focused, Baber Warns

Fiji Airways Fijian 7s head coach Gareth Baber has reit­erated to the players the need to be consistent with their perfor­mance if they are to win the 2018/19 HSBC World Sevens Series.

Baber confirmed that preparations are on track as they took on France in a warm-up match yesterday be­fore the USA 7s kicks-off at the Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas on Sat­urday.

He said during their warm-up game they had highlighted certain areas of their game and they fo­cused on it.

“We are not risking any injury come Friday or Saturday,” Baber said.

He said they are in a tough pool where they face rivals Australia, Scotland and Wales.

“Looking at the Welsh team they’ve progressed well during the Sydney 7s and surely they’ll be in top gear. For Scotland the last time we played them we managed to win by a last-minute push that stopped them from scoring (the winning try) and we need to keep reminding ourselves of these factors.”

Baber said the Wales and Scotland matches are going to tough as they play a similar game using the width of the field.

“They are also very accurate with their decision making too,” he add­ed.

Baber indicated that against Aus­tralia they need to step-up with their physicality and not to overly concentrate on the Aussies.

“The three-day tournament will be a challenge as traditionally the play­ers have done well on the two-day format.

“I know there is a rhythm that people like to see how Fiji gets into motion. We really need to make sure that we have the same mindset to deliver very quickly and make pro­gress as well. So we need to be aware that Scotland will be looking at us in the first game as an opportunity to qualify for the Cup quarterfinals.”

Edited by Leone Cabenatabua

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