Congratulations to the Vodafone Fiji 7s team and management for a job well done in Las Vegas.
Thank you to the Fiji Rugby fans and supporters all over the US, for turning out in numbers to cheer the boys. Our appreciation as well to the community group of Fijians (who now reside in USA) for donating a recovery machine to our team.
Vodafone Fiji 7s Coach, Ben Ryan has started to learn our language, and learn our ways. He is an outstanding coach and he can only work with players who are willing to live up to the standard that is expected from them.
The FRU Board and Management are confident that Ryan will ensure that we qualify this year and his main performance indicator is the gold next year in Rio. While this is one in the bag for us, our overall goal is an automatic qualification for Rio.
When we reflect on the tournaments that we’ve lost; it is because of the flaws in our game.
It is interesting to note that our error rate in Las Vegas was one of the highest yet we managed to win the tournament. This shows the potential that Fiji has to offer and the need for us to aim to win consistently.
At Rugby House our priorities now are to be “Winners in Rugby and Beyond”; both on and off the field. This automatically equates to new behaviour (for staff, management and team members) that will ensure we perform to the best of our abilities and remain modest and consistent.
Our rugby developed plans have been realigned to ensure we are always producing “quality” and “complete” players for our coaching panel.Players who can play rugby for the full eighty minutes and players that will not be flashed by the opposition or by previous results. With this in mind now – we’ve mentioned to Ryan and the boys that we expect to finish at the top.Let me also acknowledge our partners and supporters and all those in our sponsorship program. It’s your contributions that facilitate and ensure that we are in the best form always.
I also thank the team at Rugby House who tarry behind the scenes to ensure that the best is always in place for our national teams.
Fiji Rugby Union CEO
Radrodro Tabualevu,