Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Ex-Fiji 7s coach poses 15s question in wake of Dubai Sevens blowout

Fiji training session prior to the Dubai Emirates Airline Rugby Sevens 2021 Photo credit: Mike Lee - KLC fotos for World Rugby

Former Fiji 7s coach Peni Veidreyaki has questioned the wisdom of letting so many of the country’s gold winning squad transfer into the 15s game with the Commonwealth Games and Rugby World Cup Sevens on the horizon.

ADVERTISEMENT

His comments came after the Fiji Airways Fijian 7s exit from the second HSBC Wordld Sevens Series event in Dubai with losses to France 17-22 and Spain 14-33.The side finished off their pool campaign with a 40-7 victory against Argentina but this was not enough to ensure the side qualified for the cup quarter-finals.

Veidreyaki said it took former Fiji 7s coach Gareth Baber nearly three years to build a winning combination to win the 2018-2019 series after his appointment in 2016. Baber was offered the chance to continue in the role after winning Olympic gold in Tokyo but opted to take up a coaching post with Edinburgh which he has just started after temporarily coaching the Flying Fijian squad in their Autumn series matches.

Video Spacer

Guess the celebrity Rose | Adebayo Akinfenwa | England Rugby

Video Spacer

Guess the celebrity Rose | Adebayo Akinfenwa | England Rugby

Veidreyaki told the Fiji Times: “Why take 11 new players when members of the Tokyo gold medal winning team could have been retained for the two major events next year? It takes time to groom players for an international environment especially when you have seven players in the squad who haven’t even gone abroad. Only a few players from the winning squad in Tokyo got overseas contracts while others have been contracted by the Fijian Drua.

“A winning combination cannot be built overnight and in rugby, the 7s game and 15s game are separate codes which require special coaching techniques especially at the highest level. The Commonwealth Games will be held in Birmingham, England from July 28 to August 8 while the RWC 7s will be held in September 9-11 in South Africa.”

Meanwhile, Fiji’s double gold medal winning Olympian Seremaia Tuwai has married his long time partner and mother to his children, Mereani Folau, at the FMF Gymnasium in Suva.

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

2 Comments
i
iliesa 1082 days ago

What has transpired regarding the selection of the team at rugby house is none other than the usual Fijian mentality."Oh they can do it like all other Fijian team selection we have selected before".

i
isaac 1082 days ago

Yep..kick the team when they are down...lol thisbformer coach sounds bitter...relax...let them gel...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 47 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

307 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING The Wallabies have a serious problem The Wallabies have a serious problem
Search