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Ben Gollings under increasing pressure to hold onto head coach role

Fiji sevens at the Dubai SVNS 2024

Ben Gollings, the Fiji sevens head coach, is under growing pressure to deliver a win at the Cape Town leg of the HSBC SVNS this weekend to convince the doubters he can lead the team to a third successive Olympic gold medal in Paris next year.

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Heading into the opening SVNS round in Dubai, where Fiji finished fourth last weekend, Gollings, the record points scorer in sevens amassing 2,652 is his England career, said: “Last season was tough. We didn’t quite hit our stride and we didn’t win a cup final. This year we need to press and get some wins on the board. We have to build now towards the Olympics, being gold medal holders, we want to retain that title.”

In Dubai, Fiji beat USA, France and Ireland but failed in their pool game with Great Britain going down 24-0 and they also lost to eventual winners South Africa, and then New Zealand in the third place play off.

Fiji fans have made their frustrations known on social media following the Dubai event and now the focus is on what Gollings and his players can deliver in Cape Town, where they are in a pool alongside beaten Dubai 7s cup finalists Argentina, France and Spain.

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According to the Fiji Sun, Gollings was given his KPIs – Key Performance Indicators – when he was appointed head coach in December 2021 with the key element to replicate the gold medals won in Rio under head coach Ben Ryan and in Tokyo with Gareth Baber pulling the tactical strings.

It was always going to be a massive challenge for Gollings to reach the targets set when he was appointed, with the Fiji Sun claiming the KPIs were:

  • Win the gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
  • Win the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022
  • Win the 2022/23 HSBC World SVNS
  • Win the gold medal at the 2023 Pacific Games
  • Win the gold medal at the 2024 Olympic Games

To date Gollings has achieved;

  • Fiji won silver at the Commonwealth Games
  • Fiji won the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022
  • Fiji won gold at the Pacific Games.

There are also concerns being raised about the pathway to ensure the country’s top talent does get recognised and brought into the sevens programme. Former Fiji 7s player Isake Katonibau has highlighted key areas that required attention to improve 7s rugby in the country.

He told local media: “There is a big gap, it will take us one year to teach all players playing in Fiji to reach that level. Teams from overseas have changed, they have taken 7s rugby heavily, they have set their pathway, their development process but here in Fiji we [are] still depending on grassroots level.”

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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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TRENDING Many England fans echoing the same gripe following Six Nations loss Many England fans are saying the same thing after loss to Ireland
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