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Ball in his court: Offer on table for Welsh Olympic mastermind

Fiji Sevens coach Gareth Baber.

Gareth Baber, who led Fiji to the defence of their Olympic Games sevens gold medal in Japan, has been offered a new three year deal to take the team to the Paris Games in 2024.

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However, Fiji Union chief executive officer John O’Connor said that while the board had endorsed the Welshman’s contract to be extended the final decision would be Baber’s.

“The FRU board has endorsed an extension of Gareth’s contract to continue as the head coach for the men’s 7s team to the next Olympics,” O’Connor told FijiTimes.

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    “Discussions had been ongoing with Gareth and he is waiting for the vaccination program to reach the 80 per cent threshold so that the international borders reopen. He does not want to be subjected to the mandatory 14-day quarantine period that is in place by the health authorities.

    “At the moment, there hasn’t been any concrete occurrences that Gareth has accepted the offer because when he comes over, we intend to talanoa, negotiate and hopefully finalise his contract.

    “We will await Gareth’s return first, discuss his report and intentions before working on from there.

    “Once a confirmed decision is made than we will offer an official public announcement regarding the appointment of the national men’s sevens head coach.

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    “The final decision will be made by Gareth if he wishes to continue or otherwise, but the FRU board has endorsed an extension to his contract till the 2024 Paris Olympics.”

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    R
    RedWarrior 16 minutes ago
    Many England fans echoing the same gripe following Six Nations loss

    The English defense was excellent in the first half. This is considering Ireland's attack has improved significantly since the Autumn with former Leinster attack coach Goodman. Ireland were beaten by NZ in the Autumn, are behind SA and arguably behind France so de facto 4th in order (rankings take time to catch up) As Eddie Jones said Ireland are still in that elite group so England's domination in the first half is noteworthy.

    I believe they have spent the time since the Autumn largely on defence. On broken play they were relying on Smiths instint along with some jiggery pokery. For Smiths early line break a Twindaloo blocked Baird which left the gap for smith. It looked like he did Aki, but Baird was a little late arriving and clever play by Tom Curry allowed the gap for Smith. Earls line break was Smith spotting Baird coming out and beating him with a beautiful pass to Earl.

    We saw the rehearsed plays for a couple of Ireland's tries. The Aki try was just identifying that England tended to hide Smith on the wing creating a vulnerability which Ireland exploited with one of Akis great finishes.

    Although Ireland were relaxing at the end the two English tries were good enough quality and we may see more of it next week (Scotland will also have taken note).

    Although on the easier side of the draw Borthwick almost took England to a RWC final.

    But in common with the top4 you need to have firepower to get those tries in big games. Can Borthwick manage that? I don't think so.

    Next week even if England have a great first half again, you would be looking at France converting 3 of those Irish chances and pushing on after the break.

    Can Borthwick develop a plan to beat France in the next few years. If the answer is no England need to find someone who can.

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    LONG READ Ireland are Six Nations favourites but issues are starting to mount Ireland are Six Nations favourites but issues are starting to mount
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