HSBC SVNS: Fiji 7s teams set for tough Dubai challenge

Photo: Alex Ho / World Rugby Both the Fiji men's and women's sevens teams are focused on their opening matches at this weekend's Dubai 7s tournament - the opening round of the HSBC SVNS. Fijiana coach Richard Walker says they are looking forward to meeting the USA in their first pool game on Saturday night (NZT). His Fiji men's counterpart Osea Kolinisau said they will need to start well and win against Argentina, who have been league winners the past two seasons. The new format sees the top eight sevens teams in two pools each, with the top two teams in each pool advancing to the semi-finals. The bottom two then go through the normall play-offs. The Fijian men - defending Dubai 7s champions - are in Pool A along with Argentina, who they meet first on Saturday night, South Africa and France. Fijiana women's 7s team are also in Pool A along with USA, New Zealand and France. Kolinisau told reporters from the team's camp that claiming back-to-back titles is far from their focus at the moment, with the challenge being the new format they have to play with. He said the format basically demands that the team will need to win all three of their pool matches or at least two of them to finish in the top two from their pool. "This format is a straight quarter final, like every game you play is a quarterfinal," he said. "And the boys know that we caqnnot slip up in one game. We need to be really be on our a game when we play these teams and we're not thinking about the pressure of the back to back and I told the boys we want to attack this tournament again. "Although we're defending champions but we want to make sure that we go into the tournament ready to play our cards right, play the Fijian rugby that we've been training, and execute what we've been learning in the past couple of weeks, and make sure we get front foot and get a good start at the tournament." Kolinisau said they have had a week in Doha playing some local clubsides in warm up matches, which gave them the opportunity to work on areas they identified as needing work-ons. It included focusing on discipline, cutting out silly plays that had cuased them matches in the previous 2024/2025 series, plus upping their communication in games, especially when the players start getting tired on the field. "We we're focusing on one game at a time and I told the boys we can not look past any team, and let's take one game at a time," the former Fijian captain stated. "Discipline is very important, especially in this game., with this format you gotta be very disciplined, and your communication better be clear. "We're doing a lot of that in training, and we're making sure that the boys understand that if we do undisciplined things in the game the boys understand that we get a yellow card. That's something we're re telling the boys, that we gotta be disciplined. We don't want cards in the game. "We want to have seven players always on the field and on top of that our communication has to be right up there, especially playing Argentina and them." Kolinisau said the players have been told that the series will not be easy as all tournaments will have the same format, with tough matches right through from pool play. "We have Argentina and South African, and that's going to be the normal going forward in the series," he said. "There's no running away, there's no easy game anymore." He said the players are ready to play this weekend and looks forward to seeing the team put to use game plans they have been practising. The Fiji men's sevens team have seasoned hands in Waisea Nacuqu, Terio Veilawa, George Bose, Jeremaia Matana, Joseva Talacolo and Sevuloni Mocenacagi. Match schedule (all NZT): Fiji v Argentina, 10:10pm, Saturday Fiji v South Africa, 1:16am Sunday Fiji v France, 5:12am Sunday Photo: Alex Ho / World Rugby Fijiana 7s confident Fijiana women's sevens team head coach Richard Walker believes their off-season work has prepared them for the Dubai event. New players, the return of some old hands and the challenge of playing in a 'must-win' pool competition, has been cause of excitment for the team, ahead of their Pool A clashes against United States of America, New Zealand and France. "We've had a couple of good camps, meaning that competition has been really high," Walker told the media on Wednesday. "It's good to have players like Vani Buleki come back in and push the rest of the squad, Reapi Ulunisau come back in and push the squad as well. "But also for the girls that are currently being in the squad before they come back, is that they've lifted their game as well. So it's been a benefit for everybody, and for us, I think we have a really good squad, and we have a good balance across the board of different areas that we can look at, defensively and to attack." Walker said having arrived earlier in Dubai has helped in settling down and adapting to the weather there. He believes their preparation have been "really good", with a...

HSBC SVNS: Fiji 7s teams set for tough Dubai challenge

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