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Jerry Tuwai's heartfelt message to Fiji after Birmingham medal miss

Jerry Tuwai of Team Fiji reacts on the final whistle following victory in the Rugby Sevens Men's Gold Medal match between New Zealand and Fiji on day five of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Tokyo Stadium on July 28, 2021 in Chofu, Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Double Olympic gold medal winner Jerry Tuwai insists he has no intention of retiring and has set his sights on helping the Fiji sevens side win the Rugby World Cup 7s in South Africa next month.

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Tuwai, the World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year in 2019, could not work his magic to give Fiji a first Commonwealth Games gold medal in Birmingham and they had to settle for silver after being comprehensively beaten 31-7 by South Africa in the final.

Despite falling short in his bid for another gold medal having enjoyed Olympic triumph in Rio and Japan, 33-year-old Tuwai remains committed to the Fijian sevens programme under new coach Ben Gollings.

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Tuwai, who has been given a coaching and mentoring role within the squad, told the Fiji Times: “I’ll keep on playing. Maybe another year, or two years or three years, I don’t know till when. I’ll play until I can’t run and I’ll let God decide when I should stop.”

“Hats off to the boys. We had some injuries in the tournament and the other players in the squad really stood up. We will now get back to the board and prepare for the Rugby World Cup which is another important tournament for us.”

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While the World Cup Sevens, being staged in Cape Town on September 9-11, is now the main target for Tuwai, he has joined the rest of the squad to prepare for the next leg of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Los Angeles 7s on August 27-28.

With Fiji having successfully defended their Olympic gold medal in Japan there was significant pressure on Gollings, who took over from Gareth Baber as head coach, heading into the Commonwealth Games. Now, he must try to win the World Cup title against a Springboks sevens team playing on home soil.

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New Zealand have won the last two Rugby World Cup sevens titles with Fiji’s last success coming in 2005 when the event was staged in Hong Kong.

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S
SK 1 hour ago
What is the future of rugby in 2025?

Set pieces are important and the way teams use them is a great indication of how they play the game. No team is showcasing their revolution more than the Springboks. This year they have mauled less and primarily in the attacking third. Otherwise they have tended to set like they are going to maul and then play around the corner or shove the ball out the back. They arent also hitting the crash ball carrier constantly but instead they are choosing to use their width or a big carrying forward in wider areas. While their maul is varied the scrum is still a blunt instrument winning penalties before the backs have a go. Some teams have chosen to blunt their set piece game for more control. The All Blacks are kicking more penalties and are using their powerful scrum as an attacking tool choosing that set piece as an attacking weapon. Their willingness to maul more and in different positions is also becoming more prominent. The French continue to play conservative rugby off the set piece using their big bruisers frequently. The set piece is used differently by different teams. Different teams play different ways and can be successful regardless. They can win games with little territory and possession or smash teams with plenty of both. The game of rugby is for all types and sizes and thats true in the modern era. I hope that administrators keep it that way and dont go further towards a Rugby League style situation. Some administrators are of the opinion that rugby is too slow and needs to be sped up. Why not rather empower teams to choose how they want to play and create a framework that favours neither size nor agility. That favours neither slow tempo play or rock n roll rugby. Create a game that favour both and challenge teams to execute their plans. If World Rugby can create a game like that then it will be the ultimate winner.

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J
JW 6 hours ago
'Let's not sugarcoat it': Former All Black's urgent call to protect eligibility rules

Yep, no one knows what will happen. Thing is I think (this is me arguing a point here not a random debate with this one) they're better off trialing it now in a controlled environment than waiting to open it up in a knee jerk style reaction to a crumbling organtization and team. They can always stop it again.


The principle idea is that why would players leave just because the door is ajar?


BBBR decides to go but is not good enough to retain the jersey after doing it. NZ no longer need to do what I suggest by paying him to get back upto speed. That is solely a concept of a body that needs to do what I call pick and stick wth players. NZR can't hold onto everyone so they have to choose their BBBRs and if that player comes back from a sabbatical under par it's a priority to get him upto speed as fast as possible because half of his competition has been let go overseas because they can't hold onto them all. Changing eligibility removes that dilemma, if a BBBR isn't playing well you can be assured that someone else is (well the idea is that you can be more assured than if you only selected from domestic players).


So if someone decides they want to go overseas, they better do it with an org than is going to help improve them, otherwise theyre still basically as ineligible as if they would have been scorning a NZ Super side that would have given them the best chance to be an All Black.

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