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RECORD-BREAKING NUMBERS MARK SPECIAL YEAR FOR GLOBAL GAME
A
record number of people are playing rugby worldwide as the sport continues to grow and prosper across the globe, according to the World Rugby Year in Review 2018.
A record number of people are playing rugby worldwide as the sport continues to grow and prosper across the globe, according to the World Rugby Year in Review 2018.
• 9.6 million players globally, including a 28 per cent rise in registered female players • More than 2.2 million girls and boys participated in Get Into Rugby in 2018 • Impact Beyond Project Asia 1 Million reaches target nine months ahead of schedule as game-changing Rugby World Cup 2019 nears • 800 million-strong global interest driven by youth audiences in emerging markets
The sport’s unprecedented growth continued in 2018 with 9.6 million men, women and children playing the game around the world. This includes 2.7 million women, up 10 per cent on the previous year and accounting for more than a quarter of the total global playing population. Excitingly the total number of registered female players grew by an impressive 28 per cent to 581,000 across World Rugby’s member unions. This comes during the
first full year of implementation of World Rugby’s ambitious plan, Accelerating the global development of women in rugby 2017-25, which aims to support the growth and development of the women’s game and promote parity That success was matched off the field by increased engagement levels from female fans - 38 per cent increase in video views by women and the growth of the World Rugby and Rugby World Cup female audience on Twitter to more than 30 per cent. It was also reflected in increased diversity at the highest levels of the game in a year when World Rugby added 17 new female members to its Council and New Zealand was named as first-time hosts of Women’s Rugby World Cup 2021.
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Underpinning the growth across both men’s and women’s rugby is World Rugby’s development programme Get Into Rugby, which acts as a gateway for young people to try, play and stay in rugby. For the second consecutive year more than two million girls and boys (2,280,200 with 40 per cent female participation) enjoyed the sport and everything it has to offer. More than 4,000 Get Into Rugby activities took place from Kathmandu in Nepal to Kitwe in Zambia, hosted by 159 registered unions and expanding the sport’s global reach. In Asia, the popularity of Get Into Rugby helped World Rugby’s Impact Beyond legacy programme reach its goal of one million new participants nine months before Japan is due to host Rugby World Cup 2019, setting the stage for a gamechanging tournament. Project Asia 1 Million is a central pillar of World Rugby’s mission to grow the game locally and ensure Japan 2019 – the first ever Rugby World Cup to be hosted in Asia - is the most impactful Rugby World Cup to date. Other highlights in 2018 included the second Youth Olympic Games rugby sevens tournament in Buenos Aires, won
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by Argentina (men’s) and New Zealand (women’s). Meanwhile, Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco saw 100,000 fans across three days create an incredible atmosphere inside the iconic AT&T Park, with a US broadcast audience of nine million tuning in, many watching rugby for the first time. This helped drive even greater interest in the sport to 800 million worldwide, driven by young people consuming sevens digital content in emerging markets like the USA, China, India and Brazil. Off the field, player welfare remains World Rugby’s number one priority with the international federation focusing on evidence-based injury prevention at all levels of the sport. Alongside its ongoing focus on research, World Rugby’s training and education programmes remain core to its strategy, with more than 2,700 training courses delivered worldwide in 2018. World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said: “2018 was another special year for rugby as we watched the sport continue to prosper and grow both on and off the field. Within a total playing population of 9.6 million it was fantastic to see our Get Into
Rugby programme – run in partnership with unions and regions – continue to break participation records with over two million girls and boys worldwide getting involved for the second year in a row amid a growing global interest of 800 million people. “As Rugby World Cup 2019 fast approaches, it was particularly pleasing to see our Impact Beyond programme surpassing all expectations in Asia in 2018, reaching its target of one million new participants in the region a full nine months ahead of schedule. With the tournament expected to be game-changing in every respect, the stage is now set for the most impactful Rugby World Cup ever. “From a women’s rugby perspective, 2018 was a breakthrough year as we began implementation of our ground-breaking strategy to accelerate the development of women in rugby at all levels. Progress was evident with increased participation and engagement levels as well as in the governance of the sport, where we welcomed the first women onto World Rugby Council. We continue to strive for even greater parity in 2019.”
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CONTENTS 6 12 14 18 24 30 4
Publisher’s Note Arise Sir Gareth My World – Ben Ryan You Be The Judge Unstoppable Fiji Take World 7s Crown - Jeremy Duxbury Fiji Owns The Hong Kong 7s – | Issue 68
36 40 52 54 56 62
Satish Narain The Sweet Science – Manoa K Tietjens Samoa Targets Olympics The 43rdFiji Bitter Marist 7s Catching Up With Jerome Kaino Rayne Simpson – Kai Savusavu Why No One Else In The World
Source: World Rugby
66 70 74 78 82
Plays Rugby Like Fiji Fight Or Flight The Future Of Rugby PRPW In Lourdes History: Flying Fijians Trump The Maori All Blacks The Super Rugby Game Of The Year Vaimauga Eels Snatch Samoa PPS
Super 9 Title 86 The Importance Of Mobility 90 Fiji Rugby 2018 Head Coach 15s Report 94 Awards Night Brings RecordBreaking Women’s Series To An End Issue 68 |
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PUBLISHER’S NOTE B
ula Vinaka Teivovo Rugby Fans!
The international sevens season has come to an end and what a year it has been for our Fiji Airways Mens 7s team. Another HSBC World Rugby 7s Series title win, sealed by victories in London and Paris, and favorites heading into the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020 already. Go Fiji Go. Gareth Baber was surprisingly unlucky to miss out on the HSBC World Rugby 7s Series Coach of the Year, strangely awarded to Mike Friday of Team USA. It was plain to see Fiji won so many more tournaments than the USA and we also won the HSBC World Rugby 7s Series to boot with some of the most electrifying performances, backed up by very impressive collective and individual statistics. So we all agree that Gareth Baber was head and shoulders above Mike Friday and the rest, so we thought we would do the right thing and honour our Fiji 7s Head Coach with the cover of this special issue of Teivovo Rugby!
Well done to the team and management, and all the best in preparations for the upcoming season. There has also been a lot of comparisons drawn between Gareth Baber’s freakish 2018-2019 team and the Fiji 7s team that won the HSBC World Rugby 7s Series in 2015-2016 under the guidance of Ben Ryan. It’s a tough one to call but we provide you with all the stats in this issue so that you can decide for yourself. A special shout out to Team Fijiana who remain a core team on the women’s world 7s series, after winning the Challenge Trophy in Biarritz this year. Apart from our exclusive Ben Ryan column and Jeremy Duxbury covering the London and Paris 7s, we proudly share the views of our local experts, Satish Narain in Hong Kong earlier this year and Kai Savusavu – Rayne Simpson. In this issue we welcome guest columnist and another talented longtime resident of Lami, Manoa Kamikamica who shares his
heartfelt thoughts on our champion Fiji 7s team. We welcome also wise words from years of experience playing at the highest levels of rugby union and in the NRL from Henari Veratau of Papua New Guinea origin and only just recently retired. All the way from Indiana USA but longtime friend of all things rugby in the pacific, Professor Robert Dewey lands his first gig for us with his delightful article on Lakapi in Samoa – enjoy! Finally, we salute our history-makers, the Flying Fijians for finally defeating the Maori All Blacks on Saturday 13 July here in Suva after a gap of a lifetime for some – 62 years. All the best to John McKee and the boys heading into the PNC. GO FIJI GO!
Randall Kamea Publisher
CONTACT US Teivovo Rugby is published by – Cards Feejee Limited P O Box 12248, Suva | Tel +679 9992 870 | Email: randallkamea@gmail.com | Teivovo Rugby is also on Facebook. Contact Anil Prasad on 9040222 to order your copies. Teivovo Rugby magazine is printed by Quality Print Limited. 188 Foster Road, Walu Bay, Suva. Copyright © 2019 Cards Feejee Limited - All rights reserved. No material in this publication may be reproduced in any form without prior written permission from the Publisher. Cover - Fiji 7s Head Coach Gareth Baber
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2018 A GREAT YEAR FOR RUGBY FIJI CULDEN KAMEA Commander Francis Kean - Chairman Rugby Fiji
T
he current Board of Fiji Rugby has arguably been the most successful ever in the history of organized rugby union in Fiji. Under the chairmanship of Commander Francis Kean, they have transformed rugby in Fiji at all levels through a new level of professionalism and transparent governance that has ushered in an unprecedented era of stability, growth and prosperity for rugby in Fiji. The transformation from the Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) to Rugby Fiji has come about with the support of all the provincial unions in Fiji from powerhouse Nadroga and their western allies - Nadi and Lautoka, plus the tough hill men of Naitasiri, through all the Minor Unions, Fiji Secondary Schools and down to Primary Schools Kaji Rugby Chairman Francis Kean has slowly but surely won everyone over with his vision, steely determination, perseverance and at the end of the day - delivering on his promises on and off the field. And the transformation didn’t come easy or cheap. Faced with a typical chicken or egg situation, Kean had to firstly line up all his cards at home and then start tough negotiations with World Rugby; agreeing to their demands for more direct input into where and how their funds were being spent by Rugby House, which enabled the Chairman to engage professionals in support of CEO John O’Connor including: • Manager Sponsorship and Marketing • Events Manager • Operations Manager • Legal Officer • Manager Finance • GM Drua • Manager Communications and Public Affairs Hand in hand with the reorganization in administration, marketing and finance at rugby HQ, Chairman Kean pushed
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World Rugby to also support Fiji’s on-field technical capacity around our 7s teams and the Flying Fijians Head Coaches Gareth Baber and John McKee including in 2018: COACHING • Attack & Skills: • Defence: • Lineout & Restart: • Scrum: • Kicking Consultant: SPORTS SCIENCE & CONDITIONING • Damien Marsh • John Pryor • Naca Cawanibuka • Julian Sakilaki SPORTS MEDICINE • William Koong • Brian Downey • Jennifer Khalik • Sio Dickinson • David Bick
Andre Bell Peter Ryan Neil Barnes Alan Miur Damien Hill STRENGTH
June June June November
&
• Leigh Egger • Dr Emosi Taloga • Dr Bryn Savill
November June
ANALYSIS • Performance Analyst: John Batina • Video Analyst: Josh Vuto LOGISTICS • Team Manager: Willie Baleinabuli June • Team Manager: Viliame Gadolo November • GM Rugby: Geoff Webster Francis Kean has also taken a personal interest in encouraging former national and provincial rugby reps to pursue their rugby instruction credentials through World Rugby accreditation courses, so as to hopefully one day be able to engage them professionally in the development of rugby from Kaji to national level across Fiji.
A key part of its transformation under Kean’s stewardship, the FRU re-branded itself into Rugby Fiji starting in April 2018 when PR consultants WiteKite surveyed the views of rugby stakeholders Fiji-wide to develop a range of fresh new uniform designs and unique logos for our various national teams from the Flying Fijians to the Fiji Under-20s including mens and womens national teams in both codes. In doing so, rebranding will also boost the commercialization of our national teams merchandise and enhance the mana of the famous white jersey in the professional era. The new Rugby Fiji logos, uniforms and merchandise were launched during the Annual FRU Awards night at the Grand Pacific Hotel in February this year. Congratulations Rugby Fiji. Also under Kean’s Chairmanship, the FRU submitted a bid in February 2018 to host a tournament of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Fiji. While this was singularly unsuccessful, World Rugby in conjunction with Rugby New Zealand agreed for Fiji to co-host alternate years of the Hamilton 7s tournament in Fiji from 2021. Deserved acknowledgement indeed by World Rugby, of the invaluable contribution that Fiji has made, and continues to make, to the popularity and growth of rugby 7s globally, since the advent of the Hong Kong 7s in 1976 up to the Rio Olympic Games 2016. In June 2018, with the support of the Government of Fiji and the national unions of Samoa and Tonga, the FRU submitted a bid for a Super Rugby franchise to be based in Fiji, but also drawing players from and playing some games in Apia and Nukualofa. Although the bid was unsuccessful, mainly on financial grounds, it provided a valuable insight into the workings of rugby at a higher level; more importantly it raised the flag of Oceania with SANZAAR and World Rugby. One of the big successes of Rugby Fiji has been the Fiji Drua storming the Australian National Rugby Championship in 2018 and astonishingly, winning it in 2019 creating an exciting new pathway for local players to international rugby. Kean and his team have broken new ground totally funding and centralizing the contracting of all major provincial
Source: World Rugby
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Source: World Rugby players and officials. More changes are planned to improve the pathway for local players, widen the talent pool for our national teams and selection opportunities for our national coaches. Local womens rugby has also benefitted from a new XVs provincial competition and particularly rugby 7s in schools. On the commercial front, Rugby Fiji has worked tirelessly, led by Brian Thorburn, to attract new sponsors Swire Shipping, Tappoo group, Victor Sports and Fortress and enhance relationships with major sponsors - Fiji Airways and Vodafone as well as other current sponsors CJ Patel group, Carpenters, TFL, Fiji Water, Paradise Beverages and Fiji Sun. As well, Rugby Fiji’s merchandising and licensing agent - Velocity Brand Management has made steady progress globally since 2017. In his 2018 Annual Report, Chairman Francis Kean also credits their partnership with the Pacific Players Association (PPA) as a masterstroke in providing much needed personal development options and programs for our elite rugby players. Kean also reveals in the report that their partnership with PPA also resulted in the contracting of our national mens and womens 7s teams and that life after rugby has also been a key focus undertaken by Rugby Fiji with PPA. Chairman Kean has also managed very well
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the relationship between Rugby House and the various interested stakeholders of government including Youth, Education, Finance, the Sports Commission and of course with his brother-in-law, Prime Minister of Fiji and President of Rugby Fiji Hon. Ratu JV Bainimarama who also happens to be a big Fiji rugby fan. In return for this support from government, which is mainly financial; Rugby Fiji has delivered strong results on the field, marketing Fiji to an ever increasing global TV and social media audience. Also on the credit side of the ledger for Rugby House is the not insignificant contribution to our national coffers through remittances sent home by hundreds of Fijians now playing rugby professionally overseas. The icing on the cake for Francis Kean and this Rugby Fiji Board has to be attaining a seat on the World Rugby Council after over a century plus of organized rugby in Fiji. It caps a remarkable journey of transformation, sacrifice and trust from all sides here at home and from World Rugby. It is a fantastic achievement which this Board, the Rugby Fiji Council and Management team can be justifiably proud that a small rugby nation like Fiji, with meager resources has managed to achieve. World Rugby, under the leadership of Sir Bill Beaumont, who was part of the British Lions who lost here to Fiji in 1977
is also recognized and acknowledged for supporting Kean and his team to deliver such a transformation; that they were genuine in bringing about much needed changes to the way FRU conducted its business; that they were genuine in exercising good governance principles resulting in two consecutive years of unqualified financial reports, plus the changing of the FRU Constitution, which was eventually accepted by World Rugby. Although lengthier in term by normal World Rugby standards, Rugby Fiji and World Rugby managed to work out a deal through robust discussions and dialogue. So congratulations Commander Kean, Rugby Fiji family including the President, the Board, Council Members, Management, Players, family, friends and supporters locally and abroad for your belief, unending support and prayers. In concluding his 2018 Annual Report Chairman Kean acknowledges the expertise of the individual Directors has been invaluable in bringing about these positive changes. The sacrifice of their resources and time has been immeasurable. Kean also thanks the Management team at Rugby House led by CEO John O’Connor during this transformation. Go Fiji Go.
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IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES!
ARISE SIR GARETH
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T
eivovo Rugby is honoured to award Flying Fijians Head Coach, Gareth Baber with the title of Teivovo Rugby World 7s Coach of the Year - Congratulations Sir! And why not we ask? If someone living in a cave somewhere, obviously out of touch with the world of rugby 7s, can award USA 7s Coach, Mike Friday with the HSBC World Rugby 7s Coach of the Year ahead of our Gareth Baber, well we can fix that here in Fiji quite easily. It was such a silly decision, made for all the wrong reasons and probably embarrassed the hell out of Mike Friday anyway. After all, the most experienced team on the circuit - Team USA, could only manage one tournament win in the just-completed HSBC 7s circuit on their home ground, Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada. Gareth Baber and his young, inexperienced Fiji 7s team on the other hand, won pretty much everything else this last HSBC 7s Series including . . . .wait for it, not one or two or even three titles, but five titles ladies and gentlemen five HSBC World Rugby 7s Tournament titles in Cape Town, Hamilton, Hong Kong, London and Paris.
Source: World Rugby
This after Gareth Baber and his Fiji 7s team also won five HSBC World Rugby 7s Series tournament titles last year! Not since the 1999 – 2000 world 7s series had Fiji last won five titles, splitting the 10 tournaments of that series equally with New Zealand. We tip our hat to Sir Gordon Tietjens for winning the most world 7s series hands down at 12 with New Zealand and the most tournament wins in a series with 7 out of 11 in 2001 – 2002. Coming back to Paris in June this year, their timing couldn’t have been worse: On the evening of the day Fiji won the HSBC World Rugby 7s Series for 2018 - 2019 and in doing so scooping our fourth and fifth tournament titles back-to-back in London and the city of romance, someone somewhere still judged Mike Friday as the best rugby 7s Coach on the HSBC 7s Series. How could they? Is World Rugby so desperate for a slice of the lucrative US market? Is that it – for purely financial reasons? Is that what it is? Nothing but rugby politics rearing its ugly head again at the expense of us coconuts out here in the
pacific? When you think about it, this decision in favour of the USA is eerily similar to how World Rugby dropped Fiji like a hot potato in favour of USA (and Japan) for the proposed multi-billion dollar new global competition despite the Flying Fijians being ranked above both USA and Japan in World Rugby’s own global rankings. Sadly for all of us, that proposal sank like a rock to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean never to be seen again. As Ben Ryan says in his column in this issue, “Not sure who decides who the end of season Coach of the Year award goes to but Gareth certainly deserved that with the Fiji team’s consistent performance this year. USA had a brilliant season but with only one tournament win and one of the most experienced teams on the circuit, it was a stretch to award that to Mike Friday. Bottom line though is, it’s just a trophy that hasn’t been won but decided by a few people so I’m sure Gareth won’t be losing sleep over it!” Spot on Ratu Peni. We rest our case. - Culden Kamea
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MY WORLD BEN RYAN
C
an’t start without saying a huge congratulations to everyone involved in the team winning the 2018/19 HSBC World Sevens Series. The team was by far the best on the circuit and it would have been a travesty if they had lost that final match against the USA in Paris, having beaten them so many times this season as well as won as many individual titles as they have. Not sure who decides who the end of season Coach of the Year award goes to but Gareth certainly deserved that with the Fiji team’s consistent performance this year. USA had a brilliant season but with only one tournament win and one of the most experienced teams on the circuit, it was a stretch to award that to Mike Friday. Bottom line though is, it’s just a trophy that hasn’t been won but decided by a few people so I’m sure Gareth won’t be losing sleep over it! As I can testify, it’s a tough job being Fiji 7s coach and back on the island, the microscope is firmly on you and those around you so it’s great to see the team back on top.
We also tried various players out. Kuantani and Viriviri came back to play a bit and we introduced back Nakarawa, Tuisova and Nayacalevu amongst others too. It meant that we would have some inconsistencies and the cup final loss in Paris 2016 is a good example of that, but it also meant it gave me a chance to see who would then make the Olympic training squad. Lots of planning will be going on in the background too. I was also fortunate that four years earlier, I had been at the London Olympics as a spectator watching sports but also crucially as an observer, having a taste of the village etc. Back then, it was likely I’d be the GB coach for Rio so I was given a few opportunities like that to help me gain some experience. On top of some involvement with the England XV test side, commonwealth games and RWC 7’s, I was well aware of the possible distractions and pressures Rio might bring. Gareth has been lucky to have been to a
commonwealth games and a RWC 7s with Fiji as a strong favourite and the pressures that brings, so he will have learnt a lot from both those events without a doubt. He will also have William and Naca in the management group that has been to an Olympic Games. That’s a big advantage. One issue they will need to resolve is the current men’s management team is pretty big and I doubt they will get enough accreditation’s for them all to go to the Olympics. You don’t want to have a big staff all season and then before the biggest tournament have to slim it down. That could cause some problems so with plenty of time ahead - it’s something they will need to think of and find a solution. Compared to the other teams though, Fiji is in the box seat. USA have been great but with just 2 cup wins in the last 30 tournaments and a poor display as hosts of the 7s RWC in San Francisco - they will have to improve again
All eyes are now looking towards Tokyo 2020. For Fiji, it all looks on track. Qualified as first seeds, government funding guaranteed early which makes a huge difference to planning and a pretty settled squad in place. Everything looks great and this coming season I’m sure the goal will be to retain the series title whilst trying out some players with potential for the Olympics. That’s what I did when we were in a similar situation. We decided to target the three day tournaments (Vegas and HK) as Rio would also be that duration and try out some pre and post match stuff we would do in Rio. Winning both those in Olympic year gave us a lot of confidence that the plans we had in place were going to work. King Jerry breaks away
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Source: World Rugby
next season. I really enjoyed their season and it was great for the game that they did well. It’s a very experienced squad with some world class players and a fantastic management group but it’s also one that will have some players used at the RWC in Japan later this year. NZ in third place haven’t quite fired this year. They obviously came good when it mattered at the World Cup and commonwealth games but they have lacked some X factor in attack and they will need to add to their current squad if they are going to be gold medal contenders next year. SA are slightly different. They have had injury but also loss of players to super rugby and it’s taken them time to get back to winning ways. The second half of the season was much better for them so I can see them being Fiji’s biggest threat next year. Behind them some teams underperformed. Australia now have to go to Oceania qualification and beat a Samoan side that have played very well this year. I think they might sneak it but either way it’s a close call and they have no guarantees of getting through.
Prince Meli says kiss my boots Source: World Rugby
An even worse scenario faces Great Britain. They have had years to make sure they got their GB plans together and they have done absolutely ZERO. They haven’t won a tournament in over two and half years, have an incredibly experienced squad with seven Rio silver medalists in the squad that just finished the season but have struggled all year. Now, England over the next few weeks will need to qualify thru Europe and with a resurgent France and very good Ireland as well as Spain and Russia in the mix qualification is hanging by a thread. It is not unlikely at all that we could be seeing two of GB, Australia and Samoa not at the Olympic Games. It’s going to make for an intriguing year ahead after a quite brilliant one for Viti. Some of the play this year was phenomenal and not only have Fijians all around the world followed them to the World Series, new fans have also come on board, attracted to the style and panache of the team. It’s so good to see the team playing well and all the signs are there that another amazing season is ahead. Last time around, some countries dropped in various stars like SBW, Bryan Habana, Virimi Vakatawa, Quade Cooper
and Liam Messam to name a few. I wonder how many will fancy a crack at Tokyo once the Rugby World Cup is out of the way? As for me, I’m enjoying life in London. Working as a consultant for FFR, I’ve helped to set up a Top 14 sevens competition and drop into the men’s and women’s programmes of their sevens teams to offer small nuggets of advice and planning to them. It’s fun and keeps me very loosely associated on the sevens game along with some of the work I do with HSBC. I’m consulting in various sports at the moment, including premiership football and international rugby and enjoying the mix I’ve got. I’m really missing Fiji and can’t wait for an opportunity to come back soon. Personal life is also great, happy and grateful. For those of you that read Sevens Heaven, you will know Natalie and I got divorced in 2016. She’s happily re- married now and I’m seeing an amazing woman called Michelle. I keep telling her about this beautiful island in the middle of the Pacific with the friendliest people on the planet can you tell I’m missing Viti!!? Veilomani, Ben
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Prince Wise eyes up his options
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Source: World Rugby
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W
hich Fiji 7s Team is better; Ben Ryan’s team of 2016 or Gareth Baber’s team of 2019?
They both won their respective HSBC World Rugby 7s Series titles and in fact, Ben Ryan’s team won it back-to-back including 2015 and then iced it by snatching gold at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games! How can anyone ever forget? Our Fiji 7s team of 2018 slipped up at the last hurdle in Paris, allowing Neil Powell and his Blitzbok to storm home and steal the title. No pressure boys, but you now have the 2019/2020 season to win the HSBC World Rugby 7s Series and then cap it off in the Tokyo Olympics with Gold. Not to get too far ahead of ourselves, we thought it best to crunch the numbers and share some stats on our two champion Fiji 7s teams and let you be the judge. In doing so, we acknowledge that the great Waisale Serevi also achieved a similar result with his Fiji 7s team winning the 2006 world 7s series, but the competition was quite different back then and not so easy to compare. The information below shows results of our Fiji 7s teams from 2016 and 2019 from the play-offs on the final day e.g. in Dubai 2015, Fiji was in the Cup competition and went all the way to win it. The Fiji 7s team in Dubai 2018, started out in the Cup competition on the final day by losing their quarterfinal to USA 12-24, but bounced back to beat Argentina and South Africa to grab 5th spot. TOURNAMENT DUBAI 2015 Cup DUBAI 2018 Cup
QUARTFINAL SEMIFINAL Fiji 19-12 Aust Fiji 19-5 NZ Fiji 12-24 USA Fiji 31-21 Arg
FINAL Eng 17-28 Fiji 1st SA 19-24 Fiji 5th
CAPE TOWN 2015 Cup CAPE TOWN 2018 Cup
Fiji 14-17 Fra Fiji 38-19 Aust Fiji 46-7 Spain Fiji 17-12 SA
USA 19-29 Fiji 5th USA 15-29 Fij 1st
WELLINGTON 2016 Cup HAMILTON 2019 Cup
Fiji 21-12 USA Fiji 33-7 Can
Fiji 0-31 SA Fiji 29-7 SA
Eng 12-24 Fiji 3rd USA 0-38 Fiji 1st
SYDNEY 2016 Cup SYDNEY 2019 Cup
Fiji 28-12 Ken Fiji 22-17 Aus
Fiji 12-14 NZ Fiji 14-36 NZ
SA 26-26 Fiji 3rd Eng 19-17 Fiji 4th
LAS VEGAS 2016 Cup LAS VEGAS 2019 Cup
Fiji 43-7 Jap Fiji 14-19 NZ
Fiji 21-14 USA Fiji 14-12 SA
Aus 15-21 Fiji 1st Eng 19-14 Fiji 6th
VANCOUVER 2016 Cup VANCOUVER 2019 Cup
Fiji 31-26 USA Fiji 22-21 NZ
Fiji 19-31 SA Fiji 12-31 SA
Aust 19-12 Fiji 4th USA 12-24 Fiji 3rd
HONG KONG 2016 Cup HONG KONG 2019 Cup
Fiji 12-10 Ken Fiji 29-24 Arg
Fiji 34-5 Aust Fiji 28-19 USA
NZ 7-21 Fiji 1st Fra 7-21 Fiji 1st
SINGAPORE 2016 Cup SINGAPORE 2019 Cup
Fiji 19-14 Aust Fiji 26-21 SA Fiji 19-5 NZ Fiji 26-12 Eng
Ken 30-7 Fiji 2nd SA 20-19 Fiji 2nd
LONDON 2016 Cup LONDON 2019 Cup
Fiji 40-7 Fra Fiji 33-24 Ire
USA 26-19 Fiji 4th Aus 7-43 Fiji 1st
PARIS 2016 Cup PARIS 2019 Cup
Fiji 17-15 Aust Fiji 22-5 France Fiji 24-5 Fra Fiji 33-14 USA
Fiji 21-26 SA Fiji 17-10 USA
Sam 26-29 Fiji 2nd NZ 24-35 Fiji 1st
What stands out in the above comparison is how Fiji struggles in Sydney and Vancouver, finishing no better than third in both years under review, plus as we all know, Fiji owns the Hong Kong 7s. Fiji won the HSBC World Rugby 7s Series in both years as follows: a. In 2016 with a total 181 points made up of – i. Gold x 3 in Dubai, Las Vegas and Hong Kong ii. Silver x 2 in Singapore and Paris iii. Bronze x 2 in Sydney and Las Vegas iv. 4th place x 2 in Vancouver and London v. 5th place x 1 in Cape Town
b. In 2019 with a total 186 points made up of – i. Gold x 5 in Cape Town, Hamilton, Hong Kong, London and Paris ii. Silver x 1 in Singapore iii. Bronze x 1 in Vancouver iv. 4th place x 1 in Sydney v. 5th place x 1 in Dubai vi. 6th place x 1 in Las Vegas In 2016, Fiji totaled 181 points followed by: c. South Africa on 171 d. New Zealand on 158 In 2019, Fiji totaled 186 points followed by: e. USA on 177 f. New Zealand on 162 g. South Africa on 148 As a result, all four countries above have automatically qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Mens rugby 7s. Others including Samoa and Australia from Oceania, plus England and France from Europe will have to play off for one spot in their respective regional qualification tournaments. In 2016 only Jasa Veremalua and Osea Kolinisau made the HSBC World Rugby 7s Series Dream Team despite the team registering 3 x Gold and 2 x Silver throughout that series. In 2019, Fijian players dominated the HSBC World Rugby 7s Series Dream Team with Meli Derenalagi, Jerry Tuwai, Vilimoni Botitu and Aminiasi Tuimaba being named in it. Jasa Veremalua also won the DHL Impact Player of 2016 with 116 x Tackles, 135 x Carries, 40 x Linebreaks and 69 x Offloads. Vilimoni Botitu blitzed the 2019 DHL Impact Player of the Year with 124 x Tackles, 159 x Carries, 24 x Linebreaks, 49 x Offloads. Botitu scored 202 points from 26 x Tries and 36 x Conversions. His only blemish was 4 x Yellow cards. Amazing stats for a player also nominated for Rookie of the Year! In 2016, Bua bus, Savenaca Rawaca was Fiji’s Top Try Scorer with 35 x Tries, trailing South African speedster, Seabelo Senatla on 66 Tries. In 2019, Aminiasi “Turbo” Tuimaba dotted down for 46 x Tries, just six behind USA sprinter, Carlin Isles who sits top of the pile for this year. Just for the record, Ba express Vilimoni Delasau scored an astonishing 83 x Tries at his peak in 1999-2000 and more recently
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We are the champions 2016
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We are the champions again Source: World Rugby
opposition, different players and coaches in our teams, change in rules and venues.
transition to life after the Fiji 7s team on the HSBC World Rugby 7s Series.
Just for the record, in 2016 the London 7s was held the weekend after the Paris 7s.
One could also argue that Ben Ryan started more or less from scratch and raised the overall standards for players to get into his Fiji teams, whereas when Gareth Baber came along, more local players had a better idea of fitness and nutrition, restarts, the rules etc.
It is not easy comparing teams across different eras or years even just two or three years apart due to so many different variables like the strength of the
To his credit, Gareth Baber unearthed new talent and built up a squad of young players to compliment the old heads that he has carefully managed through
In fact, Fiji owes both Coaches – Baber and Ryan a big vinaka vakalevu for how they have steered the crazy talent in this country into such a positive force and style of sevens that is unique to Fiji on the field, all over the world, for millions of television viewers to discover and enjoy. GO FIJI GO. - Culden Kamea
and in second place on our list of Fiji’s top Try Scorers, Nadi flyer, Samisoni Viriviri crossed for 52 x Tries in 2013-2014. Meli Derenalagi won the HSBC World Rugby 7s Series Rookie of the Year award for 2019.
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UNSTOPPABLE FIJI TAKE WORLD 7S CROWN
Source: World Rugby
JEREMY DUXBURY
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elief more than celebration oozed around the Fiji camp when the final whistle blew on their mammoth 33-14 victory over HSBC Series rivals USA in the Paris 7s semi-finals to give the Fiji Airways Fiji team their fourth world crown and the first since 2016. Isoa Tabu, in for the injured Waisea Nacuqu, touched down for his first ever try for Fiji to wrap up this enthralling encounter and ensure that Gareth Baber’s team could not be caught in the race for the world title. And though the Paris Final against New Zealand had yet to be completed, it was job extremely well done for Baber, Tuwai, Botitu, Tuimaba, Derenalagi… and indeed all of the Fiji boys who laid their bodies and souls on the line for their team, their village, their vanua and their country.
curve. Fiji can now continue to build with this talented squad towards next year’s Tokyo Olympics. At the end of the day, Fiji met New Zealand in a gold medal match for the first time since 2016, and won comprehensively. Though the score looks relatively close at 35-24, it was 35-5 with five minutes to play before Meli Derenalagi was rather harshly sin binned for trying to catch a ball that was going over his head. It was ruled as a deliberate knock-on – fortunately the job had already been done and dusted by that time. It wasn’t essential that Fiji won the final, just very fitting. And, besides, it meant we weren’t subjected to one of those shirtless hakas.
I suspect that even those observers partial towards other teams would agree that Fiji are the most exciting, most entertaining and most skillful team on the circuit, nay, the planet. But underpinning this HSBC 7s Series triumph is pure hard work, commitment and sacrifice.
Thirty seconds was all that was needed to get Fiji on the scoreboard – Sevuloni Mocenacagi looping around the Kiwi masses and finding the young Napolioni Ratu charging through the middle. The Yasawa player started as palymaker ahead of Vilimoni Botitu and was later named HSBC Player of the Final.
Supreme fitness coupled with a sheer determination to defend to the end has seen this team grow and mature in 12 short months to win five of the last nine tournaments, and 10 of the last 17.
Derenalagi grabbed the second score, being the quickest to react to a Kiwi spillage as New Zealand skipper Scott Curry continued a long-held national tradition of complaining to the referee.
The immense disappointment of missing out here last year – despite winning five of the final seven events and beating eventual champions South Africa five times on the trot – served as a learning
Down 0-14, the Kiwis upped the ante, pressing high and swarming the Fiji ball carriers. So big Josua Vakurunabili decided to have a go at the opposition line and in doing so sucked in two defenders to give
Aminiasi Tuimaba space on the inside channel to score. Four minutes into the final, and Fiji were 21-0 ahead. From 28-7 at half-time, it was soon 35-7 and game over. Skipper Paula Dranisinukula later spoke of what was said at half-time: “In the huddle I just said to the boys, ‘If you want to be a history-maker then don’t let this moment go and pass you – give it your all’.” “I’m so proud of the boys. They have been working so hard throughout the Series and they have been paid back for that hard work. I told the boys to enjoy this moment. Jerry Tuwai – we are so blessed having him with us. He is a motivator – a small man with a big heart. We are so lucky to have him on board. We have such a talented young team.” Earlier, in the crucial semi-final, the pressure of the Paris occasion fell onto the USA team more than the Fijians, just as it had done in London a week ago. Speedster Carlin Isles dropped two balls in the opening few minutes and Kevon Williams stumbled as Fiji raced off to a 12-0 lead through Derenalagi and the long-striding Mocenacagi, whose big hand-offs on the way to the line from his own half are worthy of mention. Kiwi referee Richard Kelly then waved his little yellow card at Tuwai after a failed attempt at an intercept, and this should have let the Americans in. With an extra man out wide, Isles charged over the try-line but got too ambitious in getting
Source: World Rugby
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Fiji sing the National Anthem before the Cup Final against New Zealand in Paris.
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Source: World Rugby
Source: World Rugby Vinaka boys
closer to the uprights and the attention from Derenalagi forced him over the dead ball line before he could touch down. Unforgiveable. The microphone didn’t pick up US coach Mike Friday’s comments at that time, but we can all imagine what they were. Isles did get his try before Tuwai returned to the field, scampering over from the base of a ruck. However, he picked up an injury in the process and left the field. The third try, more than a minute into first-half injury-time, summed up Fiji’s superiority. Vakurunabili appeared to be hemmed in by the touchline on halfway but produced a delightful offload behind his back to Tuwai, who jumped past Danny Barrett and sprinted 50 metres to the posts. Coach Friday’s half-time talk was a passionate plea to his players to get the ball and get stuck in. Against Kenya earlier in the day when they also trailed, he was much calmer and measured in his address. But their second half began badly when skipper Madison Hughes flunked the kickoff. A minute later, Botitu read Hughes’s pass from the scrum with a perfectly timed interception for another seven pointer. And at 26-7 with five minutes remaining, Fiji were nearly home. Williams did manage a second try for the USA team when Tuwai’s back flick found the hands of the grateful Perry Baker, who was another of the American stars a teeny bit overawed by the occasion.
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So when the octopus arms of Derenalagi stole the ball from Ben Pinkelman in his own 22, popped it up for the fresh-legged Alasio Naduva to charge away, none of the Americans chased back. They were spent, and knew that time was up on their most gallant Series challenge yet.
Two of the second half replacements – Asaeli Tuivuaka and Naduva – scored tries, with the ever-present Botitu and Tuimaba also grabbing one each.
Naduva then waited under the posts for Tuwai and Tuimaba to join him before giving the ball to Tabu to place onto the grass. Relief for Fiji, despair for the USA.
The US Eagles then followed Fiji onto the Paris turf to take on a resurgent Kenya, who were playing in their first quarterfinal of the season and on a high after securing their core status for 2019-20. Mike Friday’s team needed to win to keep the Series alive.
Coach Baber paid tribute to everyone involved in the year-long campaign. “I think that the back end of the season, carrying on from Hong Kong with Singapore, London last week and to finish it off as we did, is pretty special.”
Kenya caught the Americans a bit cold and charged to a 14-0 lead with Isles feeling the pressure with a couple of crucial mistakes. And the African side could well have turned the screw tighter but were also guilty of unforced errors.
“It’s all credit to everybody back home in Fiji, everybody who has supported us and stayed patient but most of all to the staff and the quality outfit that we have playing for us.”
The reliable duo of Ben Pinkelman and Steve Tomasin teamed up to pull one try back on the stroke of half-time; and after another important team talk at the break from coach Friday, the USA finished the job with 21 more unanswered points. The Englishman told his players to take a moment to gather composure then reminded them: “Let’s not get anxious because you’ll get caught up in the moment. They’ve had a good start. But you’re in control of your own destiny; one possession at a time. This is about upping the pace of the game and working on our support lines.”
In the quarter-finals, Fiji showed a few early morning nerves when taking on hosts France and trailed 5-0 at the interval. But a calm and measured half-time talk from the coach seemed to settle the boys and the second half was back to business as usual with 24 unanswered points. “You don’t have to hit it out of the park straight away,” Baber told his players. “You’ve got to claim the ball and go through the phases. Wear them down; then we bring the subs on and pick up the tempo.”
The plan worked out for them in that quarter-final match, but when it really mattered against Fiji, they couldn’t repeat their feat.
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Prince Meli says get ready to kiss my boots
FIJI OWNS THE HONG KONG 7S SATISH NARAIN
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ention Hong Kong 7s and the travel taste buds excite automatically. It’s a childhood dream for any boy who tosses an empty PET soft drink bottle, flip flop or coconut on the village rara to one day wear the white jersey and play for Fiji in Hong Kong.
year because a travel agent messed up my bookings and I missed the flight to Hong Kong – Yes, can you imagine that?
And for thousands of others, it is a dream trip to the ‘mecca’ of rugby sevens to watch the Fijians in action against the best in the world at So Kon Po.
The Fiji 7s team has had the best winning run in Hong Kong this decade – we had a great 2012 and in 2013 Osea Kolinisau ignited a massive comeback after many pundits thought Wales were on track for their maiden Happy Valley glory at halftime of the final.
My journey to check-in at Nadi Airport this year was filled with mixed feelings as I got turned away from the counter last
I made sure nothing like that was on the menu this time as I was looking forward to a five-peat in Hong Kong.
We failed to notch the three-peat in 2014 but Ben Ryan returned in 2015 and started the latest Fijian juggernaut in Hong Kong where we have been Kings of Hong Kong 7s five years in a row – a feat no other nation has managed. Ra man, Paula Dranisinukula and his team had the weight of a nation on them with sky-high expectations from Fijian fans about winning the Hong Kong 7s. As the team left Nadi, there was an air of confidence and talk of history, record smashing, etc. were on the lips of ardent fans. Gareth had done his part and after
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HOT SHOT
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URO x 2 Judy and Lynda
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missing out on three big titles in 2018 he knew a win in Hong Kong would easily see everyone forget all the past losses. But, if anyone thinks it was easy – forget it. All teams were gunning for Fiji, and no one else in Hong Kong 2019. The hype had built around Fiji because this young team was setting the sevens world on fire with their sublime style of play. The offload game of our stars including the skipper, Mocenacagi, Derenalagi, Botitu and Tuwai kept the opposition guessing and the boys just knew when to turn the screw and put the foot on the throat. Police playmaker, Livai Ikanikoda slotted in perfectly in the team after showing scintillating form on the local scene. The buildup to Hong Kong was a step up especially after an astonishing show to raise the Hamilton title and turning on the money performance in the North American leg, especially in Vancouver. And then there was the Christchurch mosque shooting which felt close to Fijians hearts as some of our own perished in that attack. Fiji didn’t start off the blocks in top gear in Hong Kong but lady luck was on our side. Thankfully our rookies in Hong Kong stood up to the test and performed very well; Ratu Meli Derenalagi, alongside Vilimoni Botitu and Aminiasi Tuimaba were sensational. Seasoned campaigner, Jerry Tuwai was at his usual best and his guidance around the park for the team was invaluable. New Captain, Paula Dranisinukula led the team by example and showed he had the mana to be a great leader of men. Off the back of a good outing in Vancouver, the Fiji 7s team had a tough assignment against the unpredictable Kenyans on a cool Friday evening in Hong Kong, but our boys stood up to the test The trip back to Kowloon on the MTR was packed as usual and we Fiji fans knew a big day two awaited Fiji in the shape of Australia and perennial rivals New Zealand in expected blockbuster matches. As Fiji 7s fans gathered together in the Hong Kong Stadium early the next morning - some I was told were up, ready and lining up as early as 5am for the Stadium gates to open at 7am all in a bid to secure the best seats in the house – the Fiji corner where all the teams exit after their games and where you see the ‘blue wiggers’ behind the North goal posts.
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In fact a stroll on the lower level of the Hong Kong Stadium concourse would reveal a sea of Fiji 7s fans in white proudly displaying their noble banner blue. It seems like half of Suva had descended on Hong Kong. Fiji blitzed Australia 31 – 12 to set up a mouth-watering pool finale against the All Blacks 7s and my friends from the New Zealand radio stations, being former Fiji nationals, were torn between two lovers – well as I have been boasting and have had the last laugh for the last four years, this time was another sweet victory 24 - 5. Fiji whipped the boys in black, in fact, Scott Curry’s men simply had no answer to the swift running and offload game on that perfect Saturday evening. The night was a long one for many fans - Wan Chai rocked and this set up a great finals day. Our Cup quarterfinal on day three in Hong Kong against Argentina and a reminder was timely; the Pumas 7s team has spoilt a few of our parties before – remember 2000 when we just needed to win the cup quarterfinal in the final tournament and Argentina beat us, paving the way for New Zealand to claim another World Rugby 7s Series crown? On this day, Santiago Gomez-Cora’s side came close, very close and nearly caused the upset of the tournament, but we survived another torrid test 29 - 25. As they say, defence wins games and you had to give it to our boys who defended very well and then took their few scoring opportunities and nailed the points when needed. I always believe, no victory is sweet if you don’t topple a giant along the way. The US Eagles were soaring high – top of the HSBC World Rugby 7s Series points table and Mike Friday’s men were aiming to bag their first elusive Hong Kong 7s title. The semifinal showdown brought out the absolute best in our gladiators for a 28 – 19 win which set Fiji up for one last match to chalk up our name in the annals of Hong Kong 7s history. One comment on social media that made me laugh out loud before the Fiji vs France Hong Kong 7s Cup final for the first time ever for the two nations was; “let’s prepare to curry the rooster today”. While the French were no pushover, Fiji simply had too much firepower and the hunger in the side. Vilimoni Botitu opened the scoring for Fiji with a try in the fourth minute to give Fiji the early lead. Fiji extended our lead at the end of the first half with Aminiasi Tuimaba scoring the
first of two tries in the match to give Fiji a fourteen point lead at the break. A penalty try at the start of the second half gave France some hope, but Tuimaba got his second try of the match to give Fiji the win and became the first team to win five consecutive Hong Kong titles. In the third place play-off, the United States defeated Samoa 22–10. It’s a known fact that thousands of bottles of Fiji Bitter are sold and consumed over the three days of every Hong Kong 7s and I am certain Fiji fans went into overdrive after that hugely popular victory. It was a great spectacle – to be in Hong Kong at their National Stadium hearing our national anthem before the final is hair-raising stuff. And later to put the French Rooster to the sword and lift the holy grail of sevens titles WOW amazing! The style of rugby 7s Gareth Baber’s Fiji team played in Hong Kong 2019 captured the hearts of fans all over the world. In the World 7s Series Qualifier, Ireland defeated Hong Kong to secure core status later in 2019, but earlier Tonga was unlucky to get a red card against Hong Kong which cost them the game 12 v 19. Take it from me – nothing beats the Hong Kong 7s atmosphere, from the Stadium to the local markets where you can enjoy the best Chinese delicacies on the streets, plus the famous watering hole suburb of Wan Chai. You must try to get there one day soon – make the Hong Kong 7s a must on your bucket list and why not – another Fiji title for a sixth straight year in Hong Kong – Yes they can in 2020. - Satish Narain For the record: Hong Kong 7s Final Fiji 21 - 7 France Cup Semifinals Fiji 28 - 19 USA France 19 - 12 Samoa Cup Quarterfinals South Africa 12 - 21 USA Fiji 29 - 24 Argentina England 12 - 14 Samoa France 14 - 12 NZ Fiji Pool Games Fiji 24 - 5 New Zealand Fiji 31 – 12 Australia Fiji 22 – 5 Kenya
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THE SWEET SCIENCE OF MANOA K As the dust slowly settles on the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Series for 20182019, our guest columnist, Manoa Kamikamica pays homage to the winners, our beloved Fiji 7s Team.
Vinaka boys II
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fter two weeks of pulsating sevens action across London and Paris which resulted in some of us suffering from sleep deprivation bordering on delirium, the end to the series was the stuff of legends.
I say this not merely because I am Fijian naturally but because it was truly an epic end to the Series. In the end it was left to the two top teams
Very soon, September will be upon us along with the Flying Fijian’s 2019 assault on the Rugby World Cup in Japan, but before the enthusiasm of that buildup envelops us, it is appropriate to look back and reflect on a very special HSBC 7s Series: 2018 was very good, 2019 was spectacular. From the first tournament in Dubai 2018, USA seemed like the team to beat and New Zealand was not too far behind. Fiji stayed in the hunt winning the Cape
Town 7s, then nudging ahead after taking out the Hamilton 7s title. Unfortunately our boys were pegged back a bit in the Sydney 7s after a red card to Mocenacagi put them out in the semifinals. Fiji finished a disappointing sixth in Los Angeles but recovered some ground in Vancouver where we finished third, USA however kept making the semis, building a reasonable lead. In the end it came down to Fiji basically having to win the last four HSBC 7s tournaments to catch USA - they won 3 out 4 and the rest is history. Team USA’s rise this year has been quite remarkable based on the consistency they showed in making every semifinal in all 10 HSBC 7s tournaments. The only time I have ever seen a team so dominant was during New Zealand’s peak Gordon Tietjens era.
There are several secrets to this rise; not surprisingly the three key ones being experience, consistency and speed, are well covered by this current USA 7s team. The core members of the USA team have been playing together for at least five years: Baker, Niua, Leuta, Isles, Tomasin, Iosefo, Barrett and Madison Hughes come to mind. They have had the same Coach in Mike Friday since 2014. And they are spoiled for choice when it comes to speed; the man we love and hate at the same time, Perry Baker is a class act, closely followed by Carlin Isles. These 2 flyers regularly clock speeds of up to 37Km per hour and have on occasion single handedly demolished opposition. Expressions like “We ate the wrong Baker” on FaceBook was the cause of much amusement especially after the Las Vegas 7s when Perry put us to the sword. USA is now a very balanced side and they
Source: World Rugby
on the HSBC 7s circuit, USA and Fiji to duel it out in the Paris 7s semi-finals. For the USA, Perry Baker returned from injury and this was cause for much optimism for the Americans. The visions of how Baker ran rings around our boys in Vegas would have fueled their optimism even though, their play maker Folau Niua was out due to injury. Fiji started well and never looked back.
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must be congratulated for making 2019 one of the best seasons I have ever seen. They are no longer a team that relies just on speed. Make no mistake; like Fiji last year they will be hurting and provided Baker and Isles remain fit all year they will be in the mix again for the 2020 series and of course the Olympics. Unfortunately for USA, they met a Team in Fiji that had been on a similar path in 2018 only to be denied at the final hurdle. Fiji had the lead last year and lost to England in the quarterfinals so this was at the forefront of their minds as they headed to Paris after walloping Australia in the London 7s final. Gareth Baber, Captain Paula Dranisakula, Jerry Tuwai and team were not going to be denied. They were seeking redemption. One of the things that gave me quiet confidence was when our Fiji 7s King, Mataqali Waisale Serevi put together the Team that won our first HSBC 7s Series as player and Coach after they had also lost the year before. It is also possible that because Fiji had dispensed with USA in London in the semifinals, we had the psychological edge. We shut down Baker and defended so hard, it is changing the way the game is played. Defence wins matches and especially contesting at the breakdown and winning turnovers. There is also this swarming defence that Fiji has perfected that boxes in teams and pressures them into conceding errors. Perhaps Mike Friday’s outburst after the London 7s about Fiji’s illegal play, won them no friends and the referees were happy to allow Fiji to continue to do their thing the following weekend. There were two questionable yellow cards in Paris but Fiji was so far ahead, it mattered not. I still remember the pain on Baber’s face when we lost to England on retrospectively a dubious last minute play. Jerry like the Giant he is admitted that he gave the game away and I had a feeling they would not repeat the same error. Another source of great pride was the way the international commentators began heaping praises on this very young side as we defeated New Zealand in the Paris 7s Final. For instance, Derenalagi was being described as having the “full package”. Fiji raised their performance in this series to another level. I guess in a way, Fiji has sent an early warning shot to all the teams coming to the 2020 Olympics; come
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prepared. 1. We are on a “five-peat” run in Hong Kong and completed other back-toback wins in Hamilton and London. Also, for the first time, we won two HSBC 7s tournaments in one leg consecutively – the last leg in London and Paris, putting that myth to bed that Fiji would never be able to do so. Only New Zealand and South Africa have done the same, but it is very rare. 2. Gareth Baber blooded up to eight new players on the HSBC 7s circuit this year and three of them were nominated for HSBC 7s Rookie of the Year. I dare say, all three could have and should have been nominated for HSBC 7s Player of the Series. Derenalagi won this deservedly but Botitu and Tuimaba were equally brilliant. Just imagine next year. It will be special. 3. This is now Gareth Baber’s Team and all the doubters can maybe apologise to Baber. After the great Ben Ryan, Baber had to rebuild the Team and took a bit of time to get “set”. Initially I thought he spoke too long at half time but now, we always love his pep talks. Even Mike Friday started copying his expression – “What is the next play?” 4. Jerry Tuwai is now spoken in the same breath as Waisale Serevi, something that I thought would be hard to emulate. Another Olympic medal for Tuwai would be lovely but I digress; he is now regarded as one of the most successful players in Fiji sevens. Tuwai will pass Nasoni Roko’s record next year and barring injury will figure prominently in our Olympic title defence in Tokyo. Amazingly he is only 30 years old. King Serevi played until he was 40. 5. The depth of the Fiji squad is remarkable. Any player can run on now and there is no drop in level. Baber used this weapon in the last two legs to great effect. Botitu was rested in the Finals. The Captain came in after half time. Exceptional. We even unveiled another exceptional talent in the Paris 7s Finals – Napolioni Ratu. 6. The adversity that Baber and the Team had to deal with and still come out on top is admirable. We had a new Team, had a change of Captain and lost some core players during the Season for disciplinary and injury reasons. Nasoko, Nasilasila, Ravouvou, Kunavula and Jerry Tuwai were out at some key points but we still prevailed. This Team is special.
7. The boy’s faith is the glue that holds the Team together. The sceptics will and can say what they, but want it works for us. It is part of who we are. Our Team showcases the best of our nation and appears to be better versions of ourselves. Humility, confidence, the drive to succeed just to name a few values on display. And when the boys hoist the Ball kids aloft, it warms the heart. Anybody that knows a Fijian will understand why we do that. Finally we really have to address the Elephant in the room. Given our game and how beautiful it is, we still have yet to find a sponsor that fully addresses the players’ compensation and give some real answer to Jerry Tuwai’s “knife and fork” analogy. I for one am happy to help out because as real fans, we should be part of the solution. So there is not much else to say but conclude with some catch crys the boys were using. Remember our i-taukei language is a simple language and some words have deeper connotations. #cakacaka – work for each other, toil hard for your teammate, #nabaikeiViti – we are the wall of Fiji, do not allow the wall to be breached, defend it with your life #soliakecemai – give what you have left. Empty the tanks. Die if you have to. Congratulations to Gareth Baber, Jerry Tuwai, Nasoko, Paula Dranisakula, strength and conditioner coach Naca Cawanibuka, our warriors and the Team Management plus Mataqali Tomasi Cama; you have made us all proud Fijians and inspire us to achieve great things for our small, beautiful, great Nation. We cannot forget some of the names who have moved on this year. Veremalua , Kunavula, Ravouvou and Nasilasila thank you for your service. God bless this Team. I do hope Nasoko rejoins us next year and best wishes for his upcoming surgery. And finally many thanks to all our Fiji fans all over the world, especially the Blue Wiggers, the Don and Mr and Mrs Ricketts. Till next season, God Bless you all. - Manona Kamikamica #tosovititoso #timetokacabote #gofijigo #cakacaka# baikeiviti #soliakecemai
Men in Black Source: World Rugby
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TIETJENS SAMOA TARGETS OLYMPICS JEREMY DUXBURY
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Source: World Rugby
amoa 7s Head Coach Gordon Tietjens has his sights firmly set on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as he builds his team for the Oceania qualifying tournament. “My primary goal is to get Samoa to next year’s Olympics,” the New Zealand coaching legend told Teivovo Rugby. “We’ve got to go to the Oceania 7s with a real view of qualifying – to beat Tonga, beat Australia, and all the Pacific island teams.” Olympic qualification for the Samoans would be massive, especially as they missed out on the 2016 Rio Olympics after being pipped 19-22 by Spain in the final match of the Final Qualifying Tournament in Monaco. And according to then-World Rugby chairman Bernard Lapasset, the inclusion of Rugby 7s in the Olympics was “in no small way down to Gordon Tietjens. Through his knowledge, passion, and expertise, he has driven the standards towards what we now celebrate as a truly global game of sevens.” Credit indeed. After an indifferent start to the season, Samoa are now progressing into the Cup Quarterfinals on a more regular basis – five times in the past six tournaments, including in Paris. “When I started in 2017, Samoa was 13th on the World Series. This is my second full year with them and it’s about building consistency; that’s the real key for us. I can just see it starting to come where we’re pushing the bigger teams. But it’s the lesser teams – even though it’s 7s it is really competitive – that you’ve got to get up for and have to beat, not just pick yourself up
when you play Fiji or New Zealand.” “For London and Paris, I brought in a few new young boys – we can’t be relegated, we’re sitting in sixth place and we can’t really get fifth because England are just a bit too far ahead of us. We obviously want to do well in the tournaments but not at all costs because I still want to develop some players and give them that opportunity out here.” After 22 years of coaching New Zealand, Tietjens is enjoying his new environment, but admits that it comes with very different challenges. “From New Zealand with all those expectations on you, I’m going to a completely different animal here. I’m looking to turn Samoa into a high-performance team.” “We’re working on areas such as work ethic, nutrition, everything that makes a professional rugby team. It’s enjoyable but it’s a massive challenge. We need to build more depth on the island.” The coach says he balances his time between living in New Zealand though spending most of his time in Samoa. “I still live in New Zealand and I have an assistant coach on the island in Stephen Betham, who coached Samoa to the World 7s Series title in 2010. Stephen looks after everything when I’m not there, and of course I’m with them for two weeks before each leg of the Series to prepare them, test them, and work with them. Then we go on tour so I’m effectively with them for more than a month at a time.” “I go back home for 10 days or so before reassembling with them for the next set of tournaments. I find it’s quite healthy to
have that break and to have another voice rather than me just hammering them all the time – it’s great to have Stephen’s perspective.” As expected, Tietjens sees the biggest challenge as the lack of resources – especially compared to what he was used to working with at the New Zealand Rugby Union. “We fly in just four days before a tournament and we see teams that have come over early and have acclimatised. Then you look at teams with nutritionists and other expertise, the number of physios. On the island if anyone gets a knock or an injury we have to fly them to New Zealand to get a scan because we don’t have the scanning facilities in Samoa to get confirmation of what that injury is.” “Sevens rugby is ruthless now, it’s the physicality – they are explosive athletes, and you need to define pretty quickly what that injury is so you can put rehab protocols in place.” The winning coach of no fewer than 12 World 7s Series titles, two Rugby World Cup 7s and four Commonwealth Games titles, explained how the game of 7s has changed in recent years. “A few years ago when Samoa had a stronger side, there wasn’t the amount of analysis done on sevens rugby. I’ve seen it evolve as I was part of it coming through in 1994 with the All Blacks 7s, and it’s changed in a huge way. What I’ve found in Samoa, the biggest challenge playing-wise is not adapting to the speed of the game. They will always
Source: World Rugby
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Samoa Power Source: World Rugby
have the physicality, but the rugby played in Samoa at village level and your province in the Super 9 competition is certainly a lot slower.”
reason we stayed in there, I’m sure of that.”
“At the World Series level, the pace of the game is so much quicker and you can only compete by being conditioned. The game of 7s is controlled by conditioning – and you can’t hide from that. I certainly push the players particularly hard.
“I get 200% support for the 7s team. The Prime Minister is fantastic, he’s the Chairman of the board – the 7s team is all they really have because most of the Manu Samoa 15s players are offshore. Every time we play, the country stops.”
The game we played against England at the London 7s went down to extra-time and then another six minutes. You just have to hang in there; and we hung in and came out of it on top. Fitness was the only
As for his thoughts on the current Fiji side, he thinks Gareth Baber’s doing a grand job. “It’s always a challenge. There are so many good players over there, I think the selection must be his biggest headache
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What Tietjens is not short of is moral support.
– who do you pick? Who don’t you pick? I could always see that. I love the Fijian people; I love the team.” “We played Fiji at the London 7s and it went down to the wire. But I always tell my team ‘We shouldn’t try to play like the Fijians, we are Samoan.’ That’s a real key; if we try and play like the Fijians they will slaughter us. So we have to play our game, usually with a bit more structure and one we can adapt to, particularly for the young players coming in.” - Jeremy Duxbury
HOT SHOT
Raijieli Daveua charges through the England defense for a try.
Source: World Rugby
TR INTERVIEW BEN RYAN IN PARIS JEREMY DUXBURY
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ormer Fiji 7s Coach Ben Ryan has been working with the French Rugby Federation for the past 18 months, and his influence on their 7s game can already be seen; this season they reached the finals in Vancouver and Hong Kong, and defeated New Zealand for the first time. Paris will host the 2024 Olympics, so France get automatic entry. This has led the French Federation to look at their 7s programme a little bit more seriously, and hiring Ryan as a consultant is part of that investment. Teivovo Rugby caught up with Ryan at the London 7s. “I work for France right across their Federation,” he told us. “I’m mentoring the 7s teams, and doing only a tiny bit of hands-on coaching. It’s really about planning, building their programme, getting better quality players, and nurturing the relationships with the clubs.” “We’re also setting up a 7s league in France for the Top 14 and ProD2 to have their own competition. There’s no 7s in the schools, and only a handful of actual tournaments outside the HSBC World Series, so it’s important we do something.” “Even with England, there’s lots of 7s played at schoolboy level and invitational and social –even during the London 7s at Twickenham there was a schoolboy final out on the field – but there’s none of that in France. It’s not in the culture.” “So this is a longer project. The 2024 Olympics will be in Paris, and as hosts France get automatic entry so they know they’re going to be there; and the World Cup 7s is the year before – those are
the longer term goals that I’m working around.” The Olympic winning coach complemented France 7s head coach Jerome Daret for his dedication to and passion for 7s. “Jerome really understands things. He’s a top coach, and the same for the women – they’re getting some good results because they’re adding some consistency to what they’re doing.” “They’re picking their fitness up, and now we’ve seen for the first-time ever, men and women French sides are beating New Zealand. That’s never happened before. And they have done it in consecutive tournaments and could easily have reached another final last week – they’d never been in two finals before this season, and they’re in Paris this week, so who knows what will happen.” Ryan explained that his contract with the French Federation is 40-50 days a year and they move him around as they need. “After this weekend, I’m in a training camp with the France 7s team in La Rochelle, then another one in Toulouse; but I’ve never been with them at a tournament on the side of the field coaching, except in pre-season.” “I think it’s a bit like it was with Fiji… it’s just a case of making small changes. With the France 7s team, there were a lot of small changes, mentoring the coach and spending time with them, setting some standards. Ultimately, they are executing all of the ideas that I’ve talked to them about. It’s not me, I’m just guiding them a little bit.” Just as Fiji 7s coach Gareth Baber noted
that the France team play a similar style to Fiji, Ryan draws the same conclusion. “I think France are playing a lovely brand of 7s rugby. If you look at the way they want to play – they have been influenced by Fijian rugby; they love Fiji rugby and Jerome Daret played with Fijians when he was at Dax.” “The players also see that this Fijian style is bringing them success. Behind Fiji this season, the second-best team for offloads is France. You can see that there’s a style of play that they are trying to play that’s more akin to Fiji, and they can hold onto the ball for long periods of play.” “But like we saw in the Fiji-France game at Twickenham, Fiji only need 15% of the ball and that’s enough. Their game-breaking and their offloading against France, well, they really did change the momentum brilliantly.” The HSBC 7s Series has become more competitive in recent seasons, and Ryan believes that trend will increase further. “I think it’s good for the game to have a strong French team, just like it is to have strong USA, Samoa and Ireland teams.” “Ireland look brilliant, don’t they? The one caveat I would put on Ireland is they don’t have a big player pool. They pop into the odd tournament without injuries, but when you have 10 tournaments in a row you can see what can happen to even the top teams. That will affect them, and I’m sure they are aware of that.” “As for Fiji, I think they’re just fantastic,” Ryan smiled. “They’ve got a lovely blend and are playing some great rugby 7s. At every tournament, you’ve got to mark
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them ou
We are family
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HOT SHOT
Nitro Naduva takes off
Source: World Rugby
HOT SHOT
Turbo Tuimaba lands Source: World Rugby
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Advert
We heard your cheer in Fiji
Source: World Rugby
THE FIJI BITTER MARIST 7S SATISH NARAIN
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ike that famous Scotch, the Fiji Bitter Marist 7s is 43 years old and still going strong – one rugby stop you can’t miss on a weekend in Suva. Publicized as the best organized, perhaps, the biggest 7s gathering in the region, if not the world, this event is one die-hard fans dare not miss.
The lawmen drew a semifinal against the in-form Ratu Filise team, worthy of a cup final billing. Ratu Filise from Namatakula were saddled up well for the wet Laucala conditions and with mastermind and playmaker, Amenoni Nasilasila in superhot form, early bets were on the Etika Tovilevu-coached side.
In fact, I would class the Fiji Bitter Marist 7s as the mecca of local Club rugby 7s tournaments just as the Hong Kong 7s is to national teams.
But Police were loaded with stars and stripes of their own – Livai Ikanikoda, Meli Kurisaru, Suliano Volivoli and Joni Tanoa the mainstay.
2019 brought all the hype and usual fanfare but the Suva rain spoilt it again, as it has over many years in the past. As a result, people stayed away from ANZ Stadium and I stand to be corrected, but I think this 43rd Fiji Bitter Marist 7s drew the smallest ever crowd when compared to recent years.
In the end, the lawmen made mincemeat out of Ratu Filise, ending their hopes of breaking a long drought. In fact, the last time the boys from Namatakula won the Fiji Bitter Marist 7s, they played as Warwick, Coach Etika was the skipper and Nasilasila was just 3 or 4 years old watching and learning from the sidelines.
Full marks to the organisers though; Lawrence Tikaram and his army of volunteers delivered another perfect event under challenging conditions.
After 34 years, BLK Police Blue won the 43rd Fiji Bitter Marist 7s title after a hard fought battle against Wardens Gold 17-12 on a water-logged ANZ Stadium pitch and in more rain.
Police Rule The men from Nasova can claim the title of undisputed local Club 7s champions of Fiji after lifting the Marist title. With a depleted Tabadamu (minus Terio and Apenisa) ousted as they were chasing a record fifth crown, it was left to Police, Ratu Filise and Wardens to fight it out for the winner’s purse of $11,000.
Joni Tanoa scored the first try for Police Blue in the third minute before Suliano Volivoli added to the police margin with a converted try under the uprights. Meli Kurisari of Police was shown a yellow card in the 6th minute for a dangerous tackle which allowed a try from Wardens
Fabiano Rogovakalali. Police led 12-5 at halftime. Joseva Bilo leveled the scores with a converted try in the 11th minute while Silivanusi Cavidi of Wardens was shown a yellow card for a dangerous tackle which gave the lawmen the edge. Kini Douglas scored the match-winning try in the corner after the fulltime hooter for a famous win. Police Captain, Livai Ikanikoda was named Player of the Final. Other Results: Third Place - Ratu Filise defeated Uluinakau Babas 19-7. Shield Final - Ravuka Sharks defeated Army Green 15-7 Bowl Final - Tabadamu Blue thrashed Wadigi Salvo 33-0 Plate Final - Police White defeated Russia Red in a very close game U20 Final - Coastline Ratu Filise defeated RKS OBs 15-10 during sudden death as they were both tied 10-10 at the end of normal time. Womens Final - CK EZYBUY Marist Seahawks defeated Annadale Striders 17-5 and Mereiula Toroki of Seahawks was named the Player of the Final.
All colour and action
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CATCHING UP WITH
JEROME KAINO
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J
erome Kaino was born in American Samoa and played 81 games for the All Blacks as a loose forward. He now plays Club rugby for Toulouse in the Top 14 in France. TR: What’s the best advice you’ve been given? JK: From my parents, you only get out what you put in, in rugby, friendships, family, anything in life really. TR: The season just finished was your first in France. What was the whole experience with/in Toulouse like? JK: It was awesome. Being at the blues for 15 years and coming to Toulouse, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but right from the start it was amazing. The club, the city, people and way of life were all amazing. My family and I adjusted really well to the French way of life. It also helped a lot that I had some friends from home living in the city like Charlie Faumuina, Piula Fa’asalele, Pita Ah-Ki, Carl Axtens, Joe Tekori, Jarrod Poi, but also had some friends that play next door at Colomiers Jonathan Fa’amatuainu and Randall Kamea, which made the transition a lot easier for me and my family. TR: If you could be one of your teammates, past or present, who would it be and why? JK: It would have to be Joe Rokocoko. I grew up with Joe and seeing and playing with him on the big stage, it just seems like nothing ever fazes him. He’s one of
the most naturally gifted athletes I’ve ever seen and played with. But to me, knowing him personally, he just never seemed to fear anything. Whether playing for the Blues or All Blacks, it always seemed like he was going out to play touch with the boys in Clendon (Manurewa, South Auckland). I’d love to have that calmness and ability to follow it. TR: What’s your guilty pleasure? JK: My guilty pleasure is Orange Fanta TR: What would you like to achieve outside of rugby? JK: There are a lot of things I’d love to achieve but at the top of my list is being able to spend more time seeing my kids grow up once I’ve finished rugby. I’d also love to give back to the game that’s given me so much. Whether it’s helping grow the game in my community or in Samoa/ Pacific islands. I’ve been able to experience some amazing things through rugby and I’d love for some other young Polynesian boy or girl to experience what I have. That would be cool. TR: Who would be your four dream dinner party guests? JK: Bob Marley (For Music) Kevin Hart (For a laugh) Micheal Jordan/ Kobe Bryant (can’t decide) Will Farrell (for a laugh as well) And I’ll also take Liam Messam so he can pay for dinner. He never pays for anything! ha ha ha
TR: Was rugby always your dream growing up as a kid? JK: Yes, it was always rugby or rugby league in my house growing up but mostly rugby. TR: Who do you pick to win the Rugby World Cup and which team do you think will cause a few upsets? JK: All Blacks to win, Samoa and Fiji to upset a few teams this year. TR: Do you have any phobias? JK: I hate heights, rats and snakes. TR: What do you enjoy most about living in France? JK: I love it that the rest of Europe is only a drive away, Spain is only 2 hours from my house. Coming from NZ where if you want to experience another country you have hop on a plane and fly. TR: Favourite holiday destination? JK: I have a few, Samoa always fulfills me every time I go home. Waihi Beach in Bay of Plenty NZ, and Natadola in Fiji is special for me and family, the kids loved riding horses on the beach. TR: Who would you want to be stuck on an island with? JK: My Dad, he’s a real island guy ha ha, shelter food anything we’ll be sweet ha ha ha.
Jerome K with French Fans.
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RAYNE SIMPSON - KAI SAVUSAVU I
am delighted to again share my views with Teivovo Rugby readers by continuing to analyse the Flying Fijians opponents in our challenge for Rugby’s holy grail - the Rugby World Cup (RWC) 2019.
seasons for many years as provincial teams strive harder to compete at the highest level within Fiji and the opportunity to expose their own hidden talent to Fiji and the rest of the world.
In this issue, we will analyse all three of our remaining opposition, • vs Uruguay 25th September • vs Georgia 3rd October • vs Wales 9th October
Fiji Rugby has put in place an identification and development opportunity with the aforementioned competitions and now with their direct input into Fiji Secondary School competitions have an excellent opportunity to now offer all players a clear pathway to the highest levels of Rugby in the country and overseas - congratulations Rugby Fiji.
Local Rugby Grassroots I want to start by spending a short time on grass roots local rugby and discuss our success on and off the field since our last issue went to print. We raised the opportunity for our 7s teams upcoming on-field performance in the last 2 legs to be crowned HSBC World Rugby 7s Series champions; a feat they accomplished with amazing grandeur performances. Next was the Baby Flying Fijians finally returning to the top tier Junior World Cup Championships (JWC) after some years out competing in the Tier 2 Junior World Trophy (JWT) tournament, The young team were up against it in a pool that would challenge them heavily, playing against Tier 1 heavyweights, however they managed to keep their position in the 2020 JWC and not be demoted to the JWT tournament. The Fiji Warriors team, a well-coached and drilled local squad winning for the 4th year in a row World Rugby’s Pacific Challenge. Our Ladies 7s and 15s teams continue to grow from strength to strength with participating numbers growing throughout the country. Watch this space with Fiji Womens rugby. At provincial levels the Skipper Cup and Vodaphone Vanua competitions in Seniors, U20s and Womens teams came to an end with one of the most competitive
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Technically sound Radradra, Tuisova, Nakarawa, Botia, Kunatani, Ravai, Saulo, Tuisue, Waganiborotu, Lomani, Mata, Nayacalevu and more so how good must John Mckee feel to have such talent at his disposal as he surgically prepares this team for RWC 2019 in Japan? McKee’s preparation of the Flying Fijians campaign is one to carefully analyse leading up to the no-second-prize RWC tournament where discipline and injury management will play a huge part in their success; some say it is just as important as their on-field performance. The Flying Fijians have sent out a warning shot across the bow of all teams in their Pool after great performances against the Maori All Blacks, taking out the first game in Suva and going down in a close one in Rotorua in the return. John McKee fielding a different team that also performed way above expectations is a pleasing position for the Head Coach and his management group to be in whilst strategizing their RWC assault. As we go to print the final stages of preparations are underway with the Pacific
Nations Cup and a couple of friendlies planned prior to the final team selection for the big stage in Japan and RWC 2019. Uruguay Uruguay cannot be taken lightly as they achieved direct entry into RWC 2019 after winning the Americas Championship defeating Canada to cement their position in our pool. Their set piece and in particular their lineout was sound, with predominantly 4 and 6 man options, their set up shape being 3. 4. 5. 8. 7 allowing them to use 4, 5, 8 and 7 as lineout options. Uruguay use this on their attacking mauls with the 6 standing at halfback who becomes the driver/ripper. Their 6 is also used for midfield starter plays to initiate their phase launch patterns. They depend a lot on their kicking game with a better than average kick chase defensive structure. Uruguay tend to struggle at scrum time with several scrum resets and penalties against them; both the above areas our Flying Fijians can exploit. Summary The Uruguay side are an opportunistic type team who can punish teams on turnover ball. They have several fast players who are very agile on their feet, given an intercept, or a dropped ball turnover, can keep them in the game. They have an ever-improving set piece which held up well against a strong wellcoached Canadian pack who Uruguay beat comfortably to gain direct entry to the RWC. Recommendations If the Flying Fijians want to take advantage of the Uruguayan attack the most visible is
This is how to beat Georgia
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videm quae ipis nonsequas mos velicabo. Et voluptatem ut quiandam Just give the ball to Semi
the set piece, without good front football they seem to have minimal launch structure to which they revert to kicking long into the corners. If Uruguay decide to kick to the Flying Fijians then the game will most certainly be over for them due to the explosive counter attacking skill available to our team. Our strength in the tackle and ability to offload 50/50 passes will need to be carefully managed against such a team as they can turn our mistakes into points in a blink. Georgia Georgia will test the Flying Fijians at set piece as they are strong and powerful in scrums, Lineouts and Mauls. While the Flying Fijians scrums have improved all credit to the Flying Fijians coaching staff, however the Georgians will test us at the
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lineout and if we allow them to set their much vaunted mauls we will have a very hard day at the office. In fact, if there is any lapse in concentration and discipline, the Georgians will dominate. At maul set-up they seem to form a long shape and fast ball transfer which allows for a front break away system taking with them maul defenders, keeping the momentum going and remaining square on the retreating opposition all the while keeping the ball furthest from the closest defender. Georgia is very good at this. Summary Georgia is one team the Flying Fijians cannot take lightly. In our last two games, played in Fiji and then in Georgia, the Flying Fijians won in Suva then were beaten comfortably away, predominantly by powerful Georgian forward play.
Georgia is well known for their forward strength with the majority of their pack playing in professional Clubs throughout Europe. Georgia run a simple lineout ball executed with speed. They play to their 12/13 centre field channel with starter plays then moving to the side line however a lot of midfield set piece plays can have two phases one way with one bounce-back play to catch undisciplined forwards not concentrating on their defensive roles. Georgia execute this play at the back end of both halves when the opposition tires. It is extremely important that the Flying Fijians don’t give the Georgians opportunity with field position. If they get the set piece advantage in good field position the Flying Fijians could find themselves in a bit of bother.
2 LINES WORDS GOES HERE HOT SHOT
We should be aware of the type of kick returns we execute if Georgia kicks to us in particular from our exit zone as kicking it out on the full will play into their hands, allowing them to launch their muchvaunted set piece yet again in good mauling field position. Recommendations 1. Solid tight scrums for the full 80 minutes. Ensure minimal resets, the replacement front row player timings against a good scrum team will be important. 2. Territory – we must play in Georgia’s half, in the case of penalties against us, Georgia’s opportunity to kick for goal or touch should be a safe distance away from an attacking lineout or maul zone; Georgia’s strength. 3. Mauls – If we find ourselves in a Georgia attacking maul zone, all focus must be to stop Georgia’s maul execution before the maul is set. We
must defensively prepare and attack the Georgian lineout as disrupting this part of the Georgian game will be extremely important to winning this vital game. 4. Discipline – any indiscipline will give Georgia penalties which will allow them to take a scrum or a lineout dependant on field position. It is something we must minimise. Individual discipline on throwing 50/50 passes can cause mistakes allowing Georgia into the game by giving them an opportunity to launch from their strength - a scrum or lineout. Wales If the Flying Fijians get past Uruguay and Georgia, the Wales game will be a most important Test, regardless if we have success over the Wallabies or not. The Wales vs Wallabies result will also play an important role in who finishes in 1st
and 2nd place in our Pool and how they progress through to the quarterfinals. Wales are the current 6 Nations and Grand Slam Champions after winning the 6 Nations title two years in a row. The win was Warren Gatland’s third triumph as Wales Head Coach and the RWC 2019 will be his last time in charge before he departs for New Zealand to head up the Chiefs programme to earn his Kiwi Super Rugby stripes and hopefully become a future All Blacks Head Coach. Ironically the new Wales Head Coach is exFlying Fijians Head Coach, Wayne Pivac. Summary Wales are a complete side having players tried and tested against the best of the Northern Hemisphere teams, however on close analysis they do have some areas to exploit.
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The great Nemani Nadolo takes on Georgia
The Flying Fijians again will be challenged at the set Piece including the mauls. We need to be disciplined with possession and ensure we limit Wales the opportunity to launch their set piece strengths. The Flying Fijians set piece will also need to be secure and strong to limit any penalties to Wales at scrum or lineout. It is well known that Wales’ defensive structure has been a huge part of their success in particular the lineout/mauling and ruck defensive structures. How we implement our attacking structure to the Wales defensive set up will determine our success. A well-structured defensive system can at times win gamees. Reccomendations 1. Solid tight scrums for the full 80 minutes. Ensure minimal resets, the replacement front row player timings against a good scrum team will be important. 2. Ruck attack opportunities – The Flying Fijians strength is in general play; our set piece, even though improving, will be the opposition team’s focus. 3. It is important that we are disciplined
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4.
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with possession, carry strong, cut out 50/50 passes or unnecessary kicking which will allow us to play to our strength. It is worth noting that in a first class game a team can have 10 to 15 set pieces maximum, however there are over 150 rucks to use as an opportunity to break a defensive structure. At rucks it is clear to see Wales don’t play with a kick/chip line defender, usually a 9 defends this line and tracks the opposition ball from ruck to ruck, waiting for a potential chip/kick through and a line break to also plug a D line space as required. Wales on the other hand play a two man 2nd line structure being the fullback and the open side Wing dropping back and moving infield in a pendulum structure which includes the other Wing when the openside changes, depending on the ruck field position. As clever a system as it is however, it leaves the space between the front defensive line and the second line vulnerable. Wales and probably all teams playing against us will implement a fast line speed defence to not allow the Flying
Fijians time and space to launch our much vaunted backline where we are strong. - Knowing the Wales ruck defence structure and to put doubt in a rush defence tactic, executing a wellplanned kick or chip into that chip/kick line space early in the game will put doubt in the line speed tactic, allowing us some time and space as the game progresses. However, the game time and field position to execute such kicks will be important. RWC 2019 in Japan will be one of the most competitive to date with many Tier 2 teams improving in leaps and bounds. The off-field challenge in Izzy Folau facing the Wallabies, coupled with one of the best ever Flying Fijian teams to leave our shores for a RWC makes for a mouth-watering experience for all rugby supporters in Fiji and world wide. To the Flying Fijians, stay grounded and take it one game at a time; Over confidence breeds complacency. Go Fiji Go. - Rayne Simpson
HOT SHOT
Source: World Rugby
WHY NO ONE ELSE IN THE WORLD PLAYS RUGBY LIKE FIJI CULDEN KAMEA
Source: World Rugby
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elieve me, being a diehard fan of Fiji rugby takes its toll on one’s health and personal wellbeing, because no other team in the world plays rugby quite like Fijians. Although there is an obvious overlap between how Fijians play rugby 7s and XVs, I am only focussing on the full XVs version of the game here. Take the Fiji Drua for example, our locally-based home-grown talent current champions of the National Rugby Championship (NRC) in Australia. Last year in Suva where they were expected to face their toughest test against the defending champions from Western Australia, the Fiji Drua ran rings around the Perth Spirit, handing out a 42 – 5 drubbing like it was a stroll on the beach. Yet one week later in Canberra, the Fiji Drua were absolutely thrashed by the Canberra Vikings 66 – 5. And true to form in Sydney in their very next game a week later, the Fiji boys set the field on fire scoring eight scintillating tries, castrating the Greater Sydney Rams 57 – 31. Apart from their unexplained capitulation in Canberra, the Fiji Drua exhibited freeflowing rugby from one end of the field to another, captivating TV commentators and fans alike with their high-tempo, high-speed and high-energy brand of running rugby. For those old enough to remember, the national Fiji teams of the early 1950s, playing a similar brand of exciting running rugby, packed in the crowds in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, which some say saved the game of rugby union in Australia.
Seasoned travellers to Fiji will warn you to embrace and get used to “Fiji time”, or risk facing total meltdown as your holiday schedule counts for very little and more often than not, goes totally tropo in paradise; best then to have a bowl of kava and go with the flow to enjoy your holiday and have any hope of unravelling this global rugby mystery. In fact, the answer is all around you and plain to see at the right time of day; usually after the kids have returned from school, the farmers from their teitei and the fisherman home from the sea. In the coolest part of the day, as the bright orange fireball sinks into the distant horizon, on a beach, village rara or virtually any patch of ground all over Fiji, young and old alike drift in and out of teams of 3 or 4, or 50 or more, in ongoing games of touch rugby Fiji-style where no one keeps score. No one keeps score because what’s the point? It’s all about enjoyment. Touch rugby in Fiji is all about outrageous offloads, NBA passes, silky line breaks, blinding speed and swarming support for the ball carrier out of the darkness of the encroaching night. It is in these games where raw young talent is nurtured - not coached, to play purely on instinct and make that outrageous pass, or line break knowing the support is looming at exceptionally high speed. Why? Because unlike touch rugby played anywhere else in the world, touch rugby in Fiji is one touch and you’re dead – one fatal touch, or even the claim of a touch
and the ball is lost – handed over to the opposition. As such, a player would rather die young then die with the ball in hand. To stay alive he or she only has time to act on instinct – think and you die; there is simply not enough time to consider your next move. Just throw the pass and someone will be there to take it and burst away – witness the Nasoko no-look pass to Naduva in the final of the HSBC Hamilton 7s against South Africa. Every action and every reaction is instinctive first before coached and that’s why it is so fast, so unpredictable and so exciting. One more unique feature about touch rugby on “Fiji time”; it all boils down to the last try of the day that wins the game, no matter what has happened all afternoon leading up to that point! It’s the exciting madness of the NRL golden point rule that decides the winner in every touch rugby game in Fiji. Imagine, while only a handful of games in an NRL season in Australia are decided in sudden-death extra time, under the white hot pressure of the golden point rule, young rugby players in Fiji are exposed to this high-pressure finish every touch rugby game they play every night in Fiji. And there you have it; why no one else in the world plays rugby quite like Fiji – the secret is out and long may the chaos theory thrive in rugby paradise! Go Fiji Go. - Culden Kamea
Just over half a century later, one could argue that in an eerily similar way, with rugby union in Australia on its knees in virtually every measure, this Fiji Drua team has been a Godsend to the NRC, bringing enjoyment back to fans in local club grounds around Australia and a wider audience watching on TV; so much so that the Fiji Drua game has featured as the televised match of the round every game they have played. So why and where does this crazy brand of Fiji rugby come from? As many Australian tourists know, Fiji is a laid back holiday destination; so laid back in fact, it has a time zone of its own affectionately known as “Fiji time”.
Another crazy offload!
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CHEWING THE FAT WITH NICKY PRICE I
t’s that painful time of the year again when all the off-season festivities gets shredded off your body. The rugby preseason is one of the most painful yet enjoyable experiences. It sets the tone for the season ahead, creates mental strength and forms everlasting bonds on and off the field. Whether you’ve already started or you’re still enjoying some time off, here are a couple of workouts to help keep you in decent shape. All you’ll need is a sports field or running track and kettle bells. Warm up: Run 100m in 30s, rest 30s x 5 Stretch 10-15mins with a focus on dynamic stretching Run session: Run 100m in 20s, rest 20s x 10 Run 100m in 15s, rest 45s x 10 Run 100m in 15s, rest 45s x 10 Kettle bell session: Kettle bell squat & overhead press x 10 Push-ups x 10 Kettle bell swing x 10 Kettle bell lunges x 10 each leg Kettle bell shoulder press x 10 Do 5 rounds as fast as you can. Finish with 50 burpees. Adjust the running times to suit you. 40s run, 20s rest etc.
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FIGHT OR FLIGHT THE FUTURE OF RUGBY
Source: World Rugby
RANDALL KAMEA
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t’s no secret, that apart from a handful of XVs games and of course the HSBC World Rugby 7s Series, rugby in general is becoming boring and leaking fans at an alarming rate. Witness the empty seats at every stadium during the just-completed Super Rugby season, apart from the Super Rugby games in Suva and Argentina, fans stayed away in droves in New Zealand, South Africa and especially in Australia. In fact, don’t be surprised if at the first chance they get – the South Africans will kiss Super Rugby good-bye and join the PRO14 competition in Europe. Super Rugby just isn’t as exciting and entertaining as it was when the likes of Carlos Spencer and Rupeni Caucaunibuca were running around – in summary, it just isn’t super anymore. So why not throw in a Pacific Island team that could very well light up the competition and bring back the flair it was once known for? Witness the way the Fiji Drua team has electrified the National Australian Championship and jolted club rugby in Australia back to life. The simple yet sad truth is that it comes down to growth. When you and I think about growth within the game, we think about giving
tier 2 and 3 rugby nations a chance to grow. Unfortunately, rugby has become big business now so when they talk about growth, it’s really only about tier 1 rugby nations growing their finances mainly by taking their test matches to new markets. Every sport does it these days. European football teams take games to soccer crazy America and NFL teams now play at least two games a year in London to sold out stadiums. Ireland regularly play in Chicago and the All Blacks and Wallabies have played Bledisloe Cup games in Hong Kong and Tokyo, but won’t tour the islands, and no matter how much we scream and shout, the reality is it will probably never happen. Only a few months ago World Rugby tried to implement a new world tournament with the best international teams, except they tried to leave top 10 Fiji out. This further shows the direction in which the game and all the tier one nations are heading towards. So what does this mean for Fiji and the other Pacific Island teams? Fiji in particular has shown we can successfully host toplevel games and fill out stadiums as is regularly done for the yearly Super Rugby game. But regular top international test matches are a totally different ball game. Even with all the upgrades, there’s still the issue of travel times as only Australia and New Zealand are close enough for travel to
not be a recovery and performance issue during an already busy rugby calendar year. The answer for our Pacific Islands could be in the newly created Global Rapid Rugby and RugbyX. Rapid rugby is the brainchild of Andrew Forrest in an attempt to save the Western Force and create a more exciting, faster and entertaining version of the game. RugbyX is set to launch its first tournament this October in London and there’s no surprise Ben Ryan is involved as technical director. He’s one of the best minds in the game when it comes to evolving and developing it into something more entertaining and enjoyable for both fans and players. Both versions are fast, entertaining, exciting, promote and reward the willingness to play running rugby. Not only are they new products, they may also create new markets both geographically and demographically, which could prove very lucrative in a few years. Both versions are tailor made for our Pacific Island style of rugby and Rapid Rugby in particular could be a way for our teams to get regular tests outside of the PNC and November windows. It may be sometime before the quality of teams involved in Rapid Rugby grows but it shouldn’t take too long and what it does provide is that all-important time
Oh no I forgot to call her Source: World Rugby
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Brothers in arms Source: World Rugby
together as a group. Both tournaments could be great pathways for 7s and 15s development teams as well. Does the future of Fiji and Pacific Island rugby lie in a newer more exciting version of the game or does the existing product need to be taken to new markets? RugbyX • Smaller pitch – 55m x 32m with 5m try lines • Five players a side, ten minute games • Rolling substitutions • No kick offs • No conversions • No competitive scrums and lineouts • This all amounts to 25% of ball in play time and with only five players a side, teams can’t commit too many to rucks and may want to avoid rucks altogether.
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Sounds like the perfect version for a Fijian team and one we may even be better suited to than 7’s! Global Rapid Rugby • 35min halves with time limits on scrums and lineouts. • Rolling substitutions with teams able to make up to ten switches during a match. • Bonus point for winning by three or more tries. • Scoring four or more tries also results in a bonus point. • Losing by five points or less results in a defensive bonus point. • Nine point tries when a team starts attacking from inside its own 22m and there isn’t a change in possession on their way to scoring. This is called a power try and doesn’t need to
be converted. If the opposition deliberately gives away a penalty during any attempt at a power try, the power try stays alive when the attacking team resumes play. • The ball cannot be kicked out on the full from inside the 22. Play will restart with an opposition lineout from where the kick was taken. • If a kick is taken from between the try line and 10m and the ball bounces into touch inside the opposition 22m, the kicking team gets the ball back. • A red card offender goes off for 20mins and is replaced by a substitute player after serving his time. - Randall Kamea
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PRPW IN LOURDES DAN LEO
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ore than 500 people from Europe’s Pacific rugby community turned out for the inaugural Pasifika Unite gathering in France.
come together through those pillars, and over time get to know each other and bring down barriers to be able to broach difficult topics.”
Players from Test-level to amateur status and their families descended on Lourdes for Pacific Rugby Players Welfare’s fourday event, that was hailed as a chance to reaffirm the power of community.
Talks around mental health and business advice were set around a backdrop of traditional feasts and cultural and musical performances.
Chief executive Dan Leo explained an extended chance to focus on issues from mental health to life after rugby had a big boost on the Pacific community in Europe. “The theme of the whole four days was the subject of mental health, and being able to be vulnerable,” said Leo. “We have a lot of issues in our community – but the message we wanted to put across is that, actually, all the answers to those issues lie within the community itself. “It’s a reminder that as Pacific Islanders we connect through faith, food, music, rugby and community. “Those are the five key pillars to the way of life, and those are still the key ways for us to come together and gain strength. “All of those things affect our well-being as Pacific people. “Without those people can become lost. So this was a great chance for people to
Former All Blacks Anthony Tuitavake and Sam Tuitupou captained the Pacific Legends Memorial Match, where players of all levels took the field. “Mentally-wise we have players and people in our community struggling with depression,” said Leo. “We’ve seen a number of suicides over the last five to six years. “That’s the extreme, but between that and the really successful guys at the top you’ve got a lot of guys who may not be drowning but they are sinking. “They are finding it really tough and can be in a dark place. “So it’s important for us to meet with and talk to as many players and their families as possible, to be able to show them that help and support is available. “We have counselling services that the players can use, and it was fantastic to be able to spend time explaining with a big
number of players and their families just how we can help. “To have the kinds of frank conversations that we wanted, you can’t manage that in one day. “But building relationships over several days, breaking down barriers, it proved really impactful. “People started to open up once they got to know each other. “We unfortunately don’t have the resources to visit every rugby club in France individually, but this way we were able to make contact with a large number of people very quickly. “And hopefully now they know we are there for them, and that we are here to help.” Pacific Rugby Players Welfare (PRPW) is a not-for-profit organization providing assistance to 400+ professional Pacific Island players throughout the UK and Europe. They also provide support to players based in the Pacific Islands. In May this year PRPW held a gathering in Lourdes, France, for all Pacific Island players and their families based in Europe. Dan Leo is a former Manu Samoa international and PRPW founder and director.
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PRPW Director, Dan Leo and Joe Cokanasiga catch up in London
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HISTORY: FLYING FIJIANS TRUMP THE MAORI ALL BLACKS CULDEN KAMEA
Filipo and Wise turn the Maori D inside out
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t last! The 27 - 10 win on Saturday 13 July in Suva was a long time coming – all of 62 years in fact and this particular Fiji team and their die-hard fans deserved it. To put it in perspective; this is only the Maori All Blacks’ second loss in 16 years – their last was in 2003 when they were defeated by the British and Irish Lions on tour of New Zealand. The Maori and Fiji have met 29 times previously, with the Māori winning 20 of those games and Fiji seven, along with two draws. In summary, Fiji’s high-tempo, expansive game terrorised the Māori All Blacks in Suva. The Flying Fijians made a whopping 27 clean breaks to the visitors’ six, beat 49 defenders to 15, and produced 19 offloads to 13, with the Maori All Blacks forced to make double the amount of tackles of their opponents, and crucially missing too many of them. The Flying Fijians simply had too much fire power out wide with Lepani Botia and Waisea Nayacalevu running riot all afternoon making crunching tackles and breaking Maori ones. The brothers manning our Wings – Filipo Nakosi and Josua Tuisova rumbled over or through their opposition markers at will like Hummers against Skodas! The telling stat – by halftime the Maori All Blacks had missed 21 tackles to one by Fiji and more than half of those would have been by their outside backs – they had a shocker in D. As expected, our big forwards proved too hot to handle with the ball in hand and they held their own in the scrums and lineouts, given this was their first game together since last November in that famous win against France in Paris.
This team of Flying Fijians can only get better as they build up towards the Rugby World Cup in Japan with Fiji playing the opening game against Australia on 21 September. You can already see the players hyped up and sharper staking a claim for a spot in Coach John McKee’s final RWC squad. Imagine Semi Radradra and Josua Tuisova on the Wings for Fiji outside Waisea Nayacalevu and Lepani Botia in the Centres! The one work-in-progress in our Fiji backline is Ben Volavola. He is a good player but Volavola needs to improve his consistency in some key parts of his game – kicking in general play, restarts and at goal. Volavola has a strong passing game and runs well at times but he has 28 caps now and he must show consistently high quality return for the investment and faith shown in him by the Flying Fijians coaching team and his Fiji fans. Local star Frank Lomani had another strong passing game at halfback, but needs to add a bit of variation to his general play to keep the opposition guessing. Fiji has a couple of world class players in our forward pack in Nakarawa and Mata; if the others can rise around them we will give any team at the Rugby World Cup a tough time if they under estimate the 2019 Flying Fijians. As expected, the Maori All Blacks bounced back with fire, stoked by the healing mud pools in Rotorua to trump the Flying
Fijians 26 – 17 on Saturday 10 July. Let’s hope our next win against the Maori All Blacks doesn’t take as long as this one did. Scorers for Fiji: Tries: Veitokani, Mata, Nayacalevu 2 Cons: Volavola 2 Yellow Card: Black Pen: Volavola For the Maori All Blacks: Tries: Wainui 2 Yellow Card: Black In fact the rugby rivalry between the New Zealand Maori and Fiji stretches back 81 years to 1938 when the Maori made a short tour of Fiji, playing three games in Suva at Albert Park; opening with a 3 – 3 draw, followed by a 5 – 11 loss to Fiji and finishing off with a 6 – 3 win. On Fiji’s ground-breaking tour of New Zealand the following year, with many players still preferring to play barefoot, the Fijians played with a care-free, unpredictable running game, incredibly creating history by becoming the first team to go through a full tour of New Zealand unbeaten; winning seven and drawing one game. A proud national team record that stands to this day. The last match of that tour saw the 1939 Fijians outclass the Maori 14-4 in Hamilton, and had the Waikato Times newspaper running out of superlatives for the Fijian style of rugby, calling it “the most brilliant exhibition of football seen in Hamilton for many years.”
Big Bill Mata was a devastating runner from the back of the scrum, ruck or maul and scored a powerhouse try, fending off Akira Ioane then manhandling Maori All Blacks fullback, Fletcher Smith like a battering ram over 10M to the tryline. The NBA pop pass to Mata leading to his try could only have come from one man – his Rio Olympics Games fellow gold medallist – Leone Nakarawa who was everywhere for Fiji. Another stand out forward and fellow Rio Gold Olympian was Semi Kunatani in full beast mode. The Navosa man was our pick of the Fiji forwards for his nonstop running game, crashing the ball up the middle, or ranging out wide supporting our backs.
Veitokani man
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Fiji on the burst
They went on, “Almost uncanny in handling the ball, lightning in the pace of their sprinting, relentless in their dive tackling…and all the time pursuing methods of bright, open football, the Fijians gave a sparkling display and thrilled the large crowd.”
In September of 1951, Levula toured New Zealand with the Fiji rugby team where he scored a brace of tries to help the Fiji team down the Maori 21 – 14 in Wellington. Incredibly, he played first five eighth for Fiji in that game and was later nominated as ‘New Zealand Player of the Year’.
Fiji: 15 Alivereti Veitokani, 14 Josua Tuisova, 13 Waisea Nayacalevu, 12 Lepani Botia, 11 Filipo Nakosi, 10 Ben Volavola, 9 Frank Lomani, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Semi Kunatani, 6 Dominiko Waqaniburotu, 5 Leone Nakarawa, 4 Albert Tuisue, 3 Manasa Saulo, 2 Sam Matavesi, 1 Peni Ravai
The Maori returned with vengeance a decade later, shortly after World War II in 1948, where they won two games against Fiji and lost one.
A report in the New Zealand Herald described Josefa Levula thus; “his highstepping action was allied to an aggressive temperament and many a Caucasian face paled at the thunderous approach of a menacing figure whose eyes burned like the light of an express train”.
Replacements: 16 Mesulame Dolokoto, 17 Eroni Mawi, 18 Kalivati Tawake, 19 Api Ratuniyarawa, 20 Nemani Nagusa, 21 Henry Seniloli, 22 Sevanaia Galala, 23 Patrick Osbourne
1951 the next time we played against each other, marked the beginning of the remarkable career of arguably Fiji’s greatest ever athlete – Josefa Levula. Born in 1930 in Narewa, Nadi, Levula stood 1.94M tall, weighed in at 105Kg and is remembered worldwide by those who saw him play rugby union and rakavi saumi in England, for his unorthodox high-knee action and his exceptionally long stride. Pat Raddock, a Fiji Team Manager around that time, once said Levula’s stride in full flight was measured at 4.2M. The iconic image of Josefa Levula, caught in full stride at Albert Park in Suva is in fact at the heart of the logo of The Flying Fijians.
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It is little wonder that all teams who played against Jo Levula in his prime, found him nearly impossible to catch and virtually unstoppable once the big man got going. Before the win in Suva on Saturday 13 July 2019, the last time Fiji beat the New Zealand Maori was 62 years ago, on our August 1957 tour where Fiji faced their old foe twice, in Dunedin and Wellington where first up Fiji absolutely trounced the Maori 36 – 13, scoring 8 tries, including a hat-trick to Jo Levula and Nat Uluiviti kicked 6 conversions. Fiji then beat the New Zealand Maori again in Wellington 17 – 8. - Culden Kamea
Maori All Blacks: 1. Ross Wright, 2. Ash Dixon, 3. Tyrel Lomax, 4. Isaia WalkerLeawere, 5. Tom Franklin, 6. Reed Prinsep, 7. Mitchell Karpik, 8. Akira Ioane, 9. Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 10. Otere Black, 11. Sean Wainui, 12. Teihorangi Walden, 13. Shaun Stevenson, 14. Rob Thompson, 15. Fletcher Smith Replacements: 16. Nathan Harris, 17. Haereiti Hetet, 18. Marcel Renata, 19. Pari Pari Parkinson, 20. Whetukamokamo Douglas, 21. Bryn Hall, 22. Alex Nankivell, 23. Jordan Hyland Referee: Damon Murphy (Australia) Assistant referees: Nic Berry (Australia), Jordan Way (Australia)
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THE SUPER RUGBY GAME OF THE YEAR – CHIEFS V CRUSADERS IN SUVA CULDEN KAMEA, SKY SPORTS AND STUFF.COM
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alk about a carnival atmosphere!
Once again the rugby-crazy fans of Fiji delivered a simply magnificent event, which was quickly dubbed by fans watching on television back home in New Zealand as, the Super Rugby Game of the Year! And what a spectacle it was! Only after the final whistle when both teams had finally stopped running, could someone actually do the maths – the Crusaders were up 20 nil in the first 20 minutes and in what seemed like only a matter of a few more minutes it was all over red rover – the Chiefs had staged an unlikely comeback scoring 40 points to 7 to snatch an audacious win! As they say in Hereford, “Who dares wins”. They stunned the Crusaders 40 v 27 in Suva on Saturday 1st July and from start to finish, the sellout crowd at ANZ Stadium was totally blown away by the epic contest between two of New Zealand’s traditional rugby rivals, with flags waving continually throughout and spectators truly on the edge of their seats. What a night of super rugby! At the conclusion of the game, a breathless Sam Cane summed up the feeling of all the players, “Oh, we love these Fijian people,” the Chiefs Captain said. “They are seriously incredible. Their passion for rugby is unmatched anywhere in the world. They were loud tonight. I think they were just appreciating good rugby”. He added, “I mean there were a fair few
points scored so I guess they enjoyed it.” His comments were seconded by the Crusaders skipper and the man expected to take over the New Zealand captaincy from Kieran Read following the Rugby World Cup. “It’s awesome,” Sam Whitelock said. “I talked to the boys earlier in the week, the first time we played here there were a couple of Mexican waves going 30 minutes before kick-off and there was the same atmosphere here tonight as well. “I’m not sure who was the home team, I think everyone wanted to just see some great rugby and they saw some awesome tries and awesome skills”, Whitelock added. Sky Sports commentator, Tony Johnson summed it up nicely: “They say that Fiji is the place that happiness finds you. The fans are going to go home happy tonight regardless of who wins. It’s been an exhilarating spectacle.” Later, he brought in former All Blacks Captain Justin Marshall who expressed his hope that others would follow the Chiefs lead and bring more Super Rugby games to the Pacific. “How good is this Justin? The people of this county that gives so much to rugby; it’s great to bring this match here and, I guess, there’s some uncertainty about what lies ahead in terms of the Super Rugby matches,” Johnson said. “I hope someone can pick it up and run with it again. The Chiefs deal is over after this.”
Marshall agreed, “They are massive supporters of Super Rugby the Fijian people”. They follow it, they all have their teams they support and Super Rugby wouldn’t be what it is now when it started in 1996. There’s been a Fijian element that’s been involved and I think it’s great that there’s a game here that signifies what it’s all about”, he added. From Suva to Tokyo and even Brookvale Oval in Sydney, SANZAAR is being shown the way forward for Super Rugby. In a day and age where every dollar counts and the game is streamed and broadcast around all corners of the world, spectators need a point of difference to attend games. That difference is atmosphere and there was so much of it on show in Suva that night. Broadcasting out of the Pacific Islands has its difficulties. The lack of infrastructure is one reason why the Pacific Islands don’t yet have a team in Super Rugby. But the region is crying out for more. Tokyo, too, will be lost to Super Rugby before we know it. SANZAAR has made its bed. Now it must work out how to bring back the crowds and the spectacle. The sustainability of Super Rugby depends on it.
Gus on the Go
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Ha ha gotcha – the Chiefs break out
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VAIMAUGA EELS SNATCH SAMOA PPS SUPER 9 TITLE
Areta Areta/Samoa observer
ROBERT DEWEY
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ike so many great footballing dramas, the Samoa PPS Super 9 Grand Final on June 22 came down to the last kick. The Aana Chiefs, up 12 v 7 at halftime and at one stage leading 20 v 7 against the two-time champion, Vaimauga Eels, had played inspired attacking rugby. But in the face of sustained tackling and counterattacks in the second half, the tiring Chiefs defense cracked and the Eels scrummaged, mauled and ran their way to tries. As the clock wound down, the sin binning of the Chiefs captain looked like a turning point. And yet, down by a score of 24 v 23, and having missed a penalty just two minutes earlier, the Chiefs were still alive thanks to another penalty awarded at the 80th minute. As the Chiefs kicker watched his effort drift wide, joyful Eels players and supporters stormed the ACP Marist St. Joseph’s pitch to claim the Alan Grey Cup and celebrate their third Super 9 Grand Final win in a row. There was jubilation over an Eels threepeat and Chiefly disappointment at what might have been. The depth of emotions was testament to a hard fought match, but also reflected a competition that was creating genuine rivalries and drama. Manu Samoa supporters, who carry high expectations for lakapi, have endured disappointment in recent years. Patience has worn thin over results in the HSBC World Rugby 7s Series, the 2015 Rugby World Cup and 2019 qualification process that followed a period of much publicized turmoil at the Samoa Rugby Union (SRU). But changes have been made and there is optimism about the upcoming World Cup. The Union has achieved far greater
stability and implemented structural reforms thanks to the efforts of its CEO, Faleomavaega Vincent Fepuleai under the watchful gaze of SRU Chair and Samoan Prime Minister Hon. Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi. The Manu Sina won the Asia Pacific Women’s Rugby Championship in June. And then there is the Super 9 competition, now in its third season. Super 9 was developed as a replacement for Samoa’s National Provincial Championship (NPC). Though rich in tradition, the NPC had lost much of its excitement. In particular, dominance by the two Apia Unions produced lopsided and predictable results. Shortly after taking over at SRU, CEO Vincent Fepuleai envisaged a more vibrant domestic competition, one better suited to the expectations and standards of professionalizing rugby. As SRU Competition and Events organizer Salesa Seiuli told me, this was not a matter of whether the NPC was “good or bad”. In fact, he said, “it wasn’t bad – the NPC worked very well for that time period” and was at the heart of Manu Samoa’s successes in the 1970s and 1980s. But, he noted, we’re “in a different era now and have to change with the times”. Conceding that “the game needed to be lifted in all areas”, Mr. Seiuli, who is responsible for running the Super 9, said “we were seeking a full change of things… so that everything is professionally done.” For starters, the Union merged the old districts into a set of nine new franchises. In the case of Savaii, for example, that meant dividing the island in half. The
franchises were asked to adopt names (Chiefs, Eagles, Eels, Knights, Legends, Navigators, Tornadoes, Vikings, Warriors) and colors consistent with their regional affiliation. To avoid overwhelming dominance of the Apia region a player transfer system was implemented. Accordingly, after selecting from their own local player pools, the franchises can address positional weakness or other needs by selecting from Apia’s large player base. Franchises were also encouraged to cast the net widely to recruit the best personnel to fill coaching, management, executive and marketing positions. The Super 9 also adopted a robust media strategy and social media presence to generate energy and visibility. One game is screened live by TV1 Samoa each Saturday. The franchises were encouraged to create their own Facebook pages where on-line talanoa now thrives. Meanwhile the SRU created a dedicated YouTube channel where it posts game footage for an increasingly global audience. The Super 9 was also situated within a clearer development structure. The best players from Super 9 are expected to progress to national team development (Manu Samoa and Manu Sina 15s and 7s, Samoa A, Under-20s). Below, the Super 9 is fed by club competitions conducted in 18 districts. There are also primary and secondary school competitions as well as “Get into Rugby” programming for youngsters. Above all there is the question of money. None of this is cheap and, as everywhere in the rugby world and especially the Pacific,
Areta Areta/Samoa observer
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Areta Areta/Samoa observer
concerns about funding are paramount. The SRU traditionally shouldered most of the financial burden including funds for uniforms, and assistance for travel/ training/referees. There is also the matter of organizing match commissioners and assistants, statisticians, groundskeepers, referees, video, Red Cross and police support. According to Mr. Seiuli, there was great relief in 2019 when Petroleum Product Supplies (PPS) purchased naming rights for the competition for $350,000 tala. Individual franchises were also asked to seek sponsors, some of them locating support of $50-100,000 tala. Payments to players are variable. Better funded franchises, particularly those in the Apia area, pay upwards of $100 tala per week. Other franchises are only able to make payments at the end of the season in amounts of perhaps $400 or $500 tala. Resistance to change was inevitable, but by listening, learning and implementing adjustments following the 2017 and 2018 seasons, the competition flourished and
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now includes both a U-20s and Women’s Division. Immediately after the awarding of the Alan Grey trophy, the media and Manu Samoa officials gathered in the Marist St. Joseph’s Club hall to hear the Prime Minister announce Manu Samoa’s Rugby World Cup camp and Pacific Nations Cup squad. To the delight of everyone, the list included six “local” players who had participated in the Super 9. For the local unions, said Mr. Seiuli, the selection of ‘homegrown talent” was especially important. “That’s closest to their hearts”, he said, “a reward for them and a justification of what we’re doing.” But beyond national team development, it is also clear that for players who may never reach national rep status, Super 9 provides a well-run competition that allows everyone to progress to the best of their abilities. The Super 9 remains a work in progress. Funding is and always will be the most important of many challenges faced
by the SRU. There were also concerns this season over medical and judicial issues. Efforts are being made to expand women’s participation in 15s and enhance opportunities for girls in schools. It’s also probably time for a team other than the Eels to win the trophy. What has emerged over the past three years is a carefully managed, structured and increasingly competitive format that is professional in its goals and outlooks but semi-professional or amateur in its resources. “The sky’s the limit” said Seiuli. At a sunny Marist stadium, ringed by supporters and a small army of volunteers and with a soundtrack provided by a DJ, singing players, banter in the beer tent and the sizzling of grilled sausages, you couldn’t disagree with him. In fact, as a rugby fan, you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Dr. Robert Dewey is Professor of History at DePauw University, USA. His research includes analysis of the history of rugby in the Pacific Islands.
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THE IMPORTANCE OF MOBILITY HENARI VERATAU 86
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Before you read this I want you all to know that I am not a professional physiotherapist and all information I write about is either based on my personal experience as a professional athlete through research in the relevant fields, and trial and error during a career spanning 15 years. In rugby you are always going to have some sort of soreness due to the high levels of impact we take during each match, the weights training we do or from the many hours we are on our feet for field trainings. This is why it is so important to understand your body and how it reacts to different situations. As a young player I never stretched or took the time to address any mobility and performance issues. I simply didn’t think I needed to do it because I never felt any pain or soreness. Well, that would turn out to be one of the biggest lies I could’ve ever told myself during my professional career. Unfortunately, without the right sporting education and mentoring, it’s perhaps the same lie many other young athletes tell themselves everyday. Being young and able to recover so fast, we never really think of the long term effects all the training and contact will have on our bodies until we get older and it catches up. After so many years of neglect, I found that my body had become rigid, sore, and in pain. I had fallen into bad habits such as poor posture when running, poor technique when lifting heavy weights, poor hydration, poor prehab and rehab skills. I know you must be thinking how could I have not been in good physical shape with all the resources around me as a professional athlete and some of the top trainers and medical staff in the code. Easy! As a young player, I never actually wanted to know how/why things worked or how my body reacted. I just did what I was told, without question. Sure the trainers and physiotherapists’ work on you and your physical preparation but I never knew anything in depth about myself and the reasons behind why I was doing certain things. I was lazy in my approach to self-maintenance. The information I needed was all around me but I never took the time to really delve into it. Nowadays it is different and as soon as I realized I was part of the problem, I saw that I could be part of the solution. I began speaking to old trainers from some of the teams I had played for to get their advice. I also read a lot of books on how to prepare my body and it was then I came across two books called “Becoming a Supple Leopard” and “Ready to Run”. Kelly Starrett, a Doctor of Physiotherapy
and one of the world’s leaders in human movement wrote both books. The main area that was bothering me was my speed. In recent years I had lost a lot of my explosive speed over 40m, which in rugby is so important as the game is played over a 10-30m threshold. Very rarely do rugby players make huge line-breaks over this distance. Agility and explosive power is what we are known for. Some of the issues I realized that were hindering my performance was found out through a number of the 12 standard tests Dr. Starrett asks you to perform. It turns out that I had Position Problems, range of motion problems along with Performance Problems. So what does that mean in the bigger scheme of things? I had mechanical issues, a bad one to say the least. I wasn’t able to get into a correct squatting position, which meant that I wasn’t using my posterior chain to access the power I needed. My hip function was terrible, as I couldn’t even stay in a “sitting squat” position for more than 30secs. How bad is that for a professional athlete! What did I do to fix these issues? I knew I had to work hard at my mobility and so that meant getting into a routine and maintaining good habits. This meant getting to training an hour early and going through my mobility/stretching routine. I also did this for my warm downs after training sessions. I realized that good habits were so important to keep up my flexibility and to keep me in a constant state of readiness to perform well. Now a days I have 3 main exercises I habitually do before and after training.
1: Sitting Squat for 4 – 5 mins to improve and open up hip and ankle function. Why is it important to squat well and squat properly? According to Dr Starret being able to squat well is the foundation of good movement patterns that enable you to access that all-important power center, the posterior chain and prevent you from injury. Having glutes that are working properly means you can have better knee drive, hip drive, and the correct mechanical function that all good runners have. It allows your body to move
by using the correct muscles for that particular movement, and prevents other muscles taking on the additional load that is created when your muscles aren’t firing properly. The images show the proper way you should achieve this standard.
2: The “Couch Stretch” or Banded Hip Flexor stretch I do for 2-3 mins each leg. This is another great stretch that elongates the Hip Flexor and frees up the front of the hip ball and socket joint. It’s important to not over extend your lower back in a forward position, but to maintain your pelvis in a neutral position keeping your core engaged and spine straight.
3: Banded “Glute and Hip Distraction”. Your glutes are one of the largest muscles in your body and rightly so because it’s the main muscle that drives you forward as you walk and most importantly run. If this muscle isn’t firing properly you can say goodbye to your speed and explosive power. Have you ever had that feeling when you’re running or even jogging, like you’re almost popping up off the ground each step you take? Well that’s because your glutes are engaging each time your foot hits the ground. If they’re tight and sore because you haven’t freed them up or completed your mobility routine, they’re not going to want to work for you. Your other muscles like the hip flexors, lower back and hamstrings will end up taking on the work load that the glutes should be doing, which in turn leads to over use injuries and other over compensation/ movement problems. Henari Veratau is a retired professional rugby player, most recently playing
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for London Scottish in the English Championship last season. He has previously played for the Sydney Roosters, Queensland Reds, ACT Brumbies,
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Mitsubishi Dynaboars, Bourgoin-Jallieu, Beziers and Australia 7s. Henari has won both a NRL and Super Rugby title in an illustrious career spanning 18 professional
years from 2001 - 2019. www.verasports.com
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FIJI RUGBY 2018 HEAD COACH 15S REPORT JOHN MCKEE
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D
uring 2018 the Flying Fijians undertook Test match campaigns across June, with matches against Samoa, Georgia (both played in Suva) & Tonga (Lautoka) and in November, with matches against Scotland (Edinburgh), Uruguay (Gloucester) & France (Paris). Performance across these two campaigns was of a very high level with significant performance achievements met. 4 wins across 6 Test matches, retention of the Pacific Nations Cup in June, an away win against France (21–14) and finishing 2018 ranked 8th in the World Rugby Rankings were significant achievements in 2018. Highlight of 2018 was the win over France in Paris on November 24. Disappointment was the defeat to a spirited & hungry Ikale Tahi in Lautoka in June. 9 months out from the 2019 RWC our report card looks ok and we can take some self-belief and momentum into 2019 following our historic win in Paris. We are at the same time, well aware of the work that must be done across 2019 in the build up to RWC 2019 to help ensure Flying Fijians are put in the best position, through the team preparation, to be able to perform at levels required to have a chance of qualifying for the play offs of the RWC by finishing 1st or 2nd in Pool D. Once again in 2018, the tracking & monitoring of our potential players form, fitness, & injury status was a major task & process in the lead up to both June and November Test match campaigns. Approximately 50 overseas based players were closely tracked and monitored across Northern Hemisphere Competitions, Super Rugby, Mitre 10 Cup (NZ) & NRC (Australia) throughout 2018. I undertook 2 trips to Europe (March & September) to get face to face with current & potential Flying Fijians at their clubs and also to meet with Professional Club Coaches & Management. I also made trips to New Zealand and Australia to do the same. John Pryor (Strength & Conditioning Coach) also made 2 trips to Europe to assess players’ physical status and to provide players with supplementary fitness programs to help specifically prepare our players for the Flying Fijians program and with a long-term view towards RWC 2019. My regular meeting & communication with Professional Club Coaches & Management along with John Pryor’s meetings with Professional Club Strength & Conditioning and Medical Staff has been a great boost
in building relationships between the Professional Clubs and Fiji Rugby Union. It was pleasing in 2018 to see a number of players making their debuts for the Flying Fijians. In all 10 new caps were selected to represent the Flying Fijians in 2018, building the current depth of players capable of playing at International Level. Those players and their debut Test Match are as follows: Alivereti Veitokani - Samoa Albert Tuisue - Tonga Eroni Mawi - Samoa Sevanaia Galala - Samoa Ratu Vere Vugakoto - Samoa Mesulame Dolokoto - Scotland Semi Radradra - Georgia Setareki Tuicuvu - Scotland Eroni Sau - Uruguay Vereniki Goneva achieved a significant milestone when he played his 50th Test for the Flying Fijians against Georgia in Suva. My congratulations goes to all these players. Once again the World Rugby Pacific Rugby Challenge Competition for Fiji Warriors in March provided a very good match program for local players to stake their claims for Flying Fijians selection as did the Fijian Drua participation in the Australian NRC later in the year. With the Fiji Drua winning the Australian National Rugby Championship in 2018 we can already see, in the 2nd year of participation, a significant pathway gap for locally based players between domestic and international competition has been bridged. Locally based players selected for the November Tour were well prepared for International Rugby and made significant contributions to Flying Fijians Team performance. Once again we were able to gather a World Class Coaching, Sports Science and Sports Medicine team to prepare & support the Flying Fijians in 2018. The 2018 Flying Fijians Technical Coaching, Sports Science, Sports Medicine & Logisitics Team consisted of: COACHING Attack & Skills: Defence: Lineout & Restart: Scrum: Kicking Consultant:
Andre Bell Peter Ryan Neil Barnes Alan Miur Damien Hill
SPORTS SCIENCE & STRENGTH &
CONDITIONING Damien Marsh John Pryor Naca Cawanibuka Julian Sakilaki SPORTS MEDICINE Physiotherapists: William Koong Brian Downey June Jennifer Khalik June Sio Dickinson June David Bick November Leigh Egger November Doctors: Dr Emosi Taloga June Dr Bryn Savill ANALYSIS Performance Analyst: Video Analyst: LOGISTICS Team Manager: Willie Baleinabuli Viliame Gadolo General Manager Rugby: Geoff Webster
John Batina Josh Vuto
June November
Jurgen Heitman & Andy Washale made valuable contributions to the Flying Fijians in 2018 as Leadership & Management Consultants. Jurgen and Andy joined the Flying Fijians for a week in June and a week in November to work with the Team Management & Coaching Group and the Senior Players Group in developing strategies in aligning the Technical Coaching & Management Team and in providing effective team leadership methodology. Jurgen comes from a background of the highest levels of the US Military and is currently a management consultant for Business Organisations and Professional Sporting Teams in the USA. Andy is a Sports Scientist who has worked with USA Olympic Sports, Redbull Performance Sports and consults to Logitech in California. Chris Pollock (World Rugby Match Official Consultant) once again made a valuable contribution to the Team in the areas of understanding the Law and onfield discipline across both June and November Tests, I take this opportunity to thank all those involved for their valuable contributions across the year. 2018 FLYING FIJIANS RESULTS June v Samoa at ANZ Stadium Suva Won 24-22 June v Georgia at ANZ Stadium Suva Won
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Goneva eyes the tryline again
37-15
Gloucester Won 68-7
June v Tonga at Churchill Park Lautoka Lost 19-27
November v France at Stade de France Paris Won 21-14
November v Scotland at Murrayfield Edinburgh Lost 17-54 November v Uruguay at Hatpury College
Points for: 186
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Points against: 139
Tries scored: 27 Tries converted: 19 Vinaka vakalevu.
HOT SHOT
Source: World Rugby
AWARDS NIGHT BRINGS RECORDBREAKING WOMEN’S SERIES TO AN END T
he best in class from the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series 2019 were recognised at the annual awards ceremony. The HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series 2019 Awards were held in Biarritz, France, on Sunday and celebrated an array of talent and moments from across the season. The curtain came down on a recordbreaking HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series 2019 with a piece of history as USA ran out 26-10 winners over New Zealand in the HSBC France Women’s Sevens final to win their first-ever Cup title. This series was the highest try-scoring one in the history of the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series, with 1,155 tries scored. This surpasses the previous record of 1,142 in 2014-15 where six events were also played.
As well as battling it out for the series title, teams were also competing for qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games this season. The HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series served as the principal route to qualification with the top four teams automatically securing their spots alongside host nation Japan. New Zealand were the first team to qualify at the HSBC Canada Women’s Sevens in Langford last month and they will be joined by USA, Canada and Australia who finished the 2019 series in second, third and fourth place respectively. Teams, players, coaches and moments that played such a pivotal role in the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series 2019 were honoured at the annual awards
The HSBC Women’s Dream Team 2019 with Coach of the year Chris Brown.
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ceremony. World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said: “This has been an extremely competitive season on the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series with five different teams having stepped onto the medal podium since it kicked off in Glendale last year, combined with the added incentive of qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. “These players are exceptional role models for our sport, they are the driving force behind the development of the women’s competition, which, as we enter a new four-year cycle, will see the women’s series increase from six to eight events for the first time in its history. “Congratulations to all those who picked up an award tonight and also to everyone involved including players, coaches,
match officials, host unions and support staff. You all play an important role in shaping this competition and making it the huge success that it is.” Jonathan Castleman, HSBC Global Head of Brand Partnerships, added: “There is absolutely no doubt that the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series has experienced a real step change in the last few years. “On behalf of HSBC I’d like to congratulate the incredible athletes of the women’s series who competed brilliantly and produced an unmissable sporting spectacle. “We are delighted that next season we will see more joint men’s and women’s legs on the series. Women’s rugby is the driving force of the growth of rugby sevens globally, and the wonderful players of the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series are some of the greatest adverts for the sport. “Our commitment is to continue to work with our partner World Rugby to support women’s sevens at both the elite and grassroots level, and help this brilliant sport continue to grow and grow.” Gilbert Top Try Scorer After scoring 35 tries across the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series 2019, Ireland’s Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe won the Gilbert Top Try Scorer award, the first northern hemisphere player to do so. Upon receiving the award, Murphy Crowe said: “It’s a huge honour for me personally, it’s a huge achievement to be the top try scorer. There’s a lot of hard work that goes on off the field back home in Dublin. A lot of hard work goes into training and then it’s implemented into games – the girls just put me into space and that’s all I can ask for.” Rookie of the Year This award goes to a player who has made their HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series debut in the current season. Players are nominated by an expert panel for their skill and success on the field during their debut year, with the public voting to determine the winner. This year’s award was won by Spanish teenager Lide Erbina. Fair Play The Fair Play award is selected by the match officials and recognises the teams who showcase rugby’s values of integrity, passion, solidarity, discipline and respect. This year’s recipients were series champions New Zealand.
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Gotcha girl
England and Fiji - go girls!
TAG Heuer Don’t Crack Under Pressure This award is given to the player who has shown they have the ability to perform under the unique and intense pressure of top-level rugby sevens. This award was voted for by the fans on social media and went to Canada captain Ghislaine Landry for her match-winning conversion in the Kitakyushu final. Landry said: “I’ve been around for quite a few years now and the quality of the series overall is incredible right now and higher than it has ever been so to still be playing at that level, it means a lot to me. “All the teams are so great now and there are upsets happening all over the place so it was great finish in the top four, that means a lot to us as it was our main goal this season and I think the performances went above and beyond.” DHL Impact Player This award is for the player who demonstrated the most consistency and delivered the greatest impact against four key criteria – carries, off-loads, line-breaks and tackles. This year’s winner was Russia captain Alena Mikhaltsova, who made 74 tackles, 32 breaks, 26 offloads and 127 carries throughout the season.
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Capgemini Coach of the Series This season’s Capgemini Coach of the Series award was won by USA’s Chris Brown, who in his first season in charge led the Women’s Sevens Eagles to their best ever season and first Cup title in Biarritz.
like these; beating Canada for the first time, beating Australia for the first time in the World Cup and then New Zealand. We have been working had for these kind of victories so it was really special for us.” HSBC Dream Team
“We’ve been focusing on consistency the whole time in training and we’ve seen that replicated on the World Series. It’s something that I asked of them in the way that they carry themselves on and off the pitch and I think that’s translated into something that has resulted in us being the only team that has finished in the top four every tournament,” Brown said.
The HSBC Dream Team takes into consideration players’ performances across the season and previous nominations in the individual tournament dream teams.
“It doesn’t make a difference if the players aren’t going to believe and don’t execute it, no matter how good a coach you are, they’ve got to believe in you.” UL Mark of Excellence This inaugural award celebrates the one moment of the season that stood out above all others. The winners of this award were France for their first-ever victory over New Zealand in Kitakyushu, one that ended the Black Ferns Sevens 38-match unbeaten run on the series. On receiving the award, Chloe Pelle said: “It was exceptional – it was a great moment for us. We build our team on such events
The seven players making up this season’s HSBC Dream Team are: Sarah Hirini (New Zealand), Brittany Benn (Canada), Ruby Tui (New Zealand), Tyla Nathan-Wong (New Zealand), Ghislaine Landry (Canada), Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (Ireland) and Anne-Cecile Ciofani (France). Landry said: “It was super unexpected actually but I’m proud to be amongst such an amazing group of players.” Hirini added: “It’s really special to be selected as part of the Dream Team. We just go out there and try to do our best and for me it’s just about backing the Black Ferns Sevens team each tournament, but to be recognised like this is very special for my family as well.”
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