Ben Gollings under increasing pressure to hold onto head coach role

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.

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.

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.”