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Fiji Sevens coach Kolinisau wants another shot at gold

Osea Kolinisau #14 of Old Glory DC celebrates after scoring a try during the second half of the match against the New England Free Jacks at Segra Field on April 25, 2021 in Leesburg, VA. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

Osea Kolinisau , Fiji men’s rugby sevens head coach, wants the chance to take the squad  to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

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Kolinisau took charge of the squad four months before the Paris Olympic Games where they added a silver medal to the golds won in Rio and Tokyo with the hosts France grabbing gold at the Stade de France.

Kolinisau will meet with the Fiji Rugby Union interim Trustees this week to present his post-Paris and expects to discover if he will get his chance to take the squad to the next Olympics next week

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Kolinisau told the Fiji Sun:“My heart has always been for Fiji and I love the opportunity to build that team for the next four years,” the captain of the gold medal winning team at the 2016 Rio Olympics said.

“There are lots of youngsters in the team now but I have to think about family as well. If it is okay with the family, I’ll be excited if allowed (to stay) for four years.

“I’ll see what they want. I want to stay but it’s up to them. I’m proud with the nucleus of the team right now. A lot of youngsters between the ages of 24 to 26. We know the standard that we are supposed to be playing in. We have a base that we can build on if we are given the opportunity.”

Fiji Rugby Union interim Trustees chairman Peter Mazey said: “Look I am a fan of what he has done, he came in with only four months and we went from not achieving anything from 22 tournaments to silver in the Olympics. That’s an incredible achievement,” he said.

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“He brought in some new blood and kept some old guys, his current contract, which he wanted is only up to September. I have spoken to him and he is keen to carry on. The board will certainly work with him on that.”

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H
Head high tackle 1 hour ago
Can Samoa and Tonga ever become contenders when their top talent is skimmed?

I think you have gone in the wrong direction here Nick. I think you need to delve down into the rules etc around Moana Pacifica’s selection policies and then you need to understand that a lot of KIWI BORN rugby players have PI heritage. It appears ok for the 4 home nations to pillage NZ born players constantly without retribution but you want to question whether NZ BORN players should be eligible for NZ? Seems a real agenda in there.

Go back and look at the actual Aims and agenda for MP becoming a entity and you see lots of things enshrined in policy that you arnt mentioning here. EG there is an allowance for a percentage of MP to be NZ eligible. This was done so MP could actually become competitive. Lets be real. If it wasnt this way then MP would not be competitive.

There also seems to be some sort of claim ( mainly from the NH ) that NZ is “cashing in” on MP, which , quite frankly is a major error. Are you aware of how much MP costs NZR Financially?

39 NZ born rugby players played at the last world cup for Samoa or Tonga. PLUS plenty for Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales.

Taumoefolau is a BORN AND BRED NZer. However I very strongly doubt he will be an AB, but who do you believe he should be allowed to play for? Levi Aumua is ALSO a born and bred Kiwi.

Aumua was eligible to represent Samoa and Fiji for the Pacific Nations Cup in July that year but ended up playing for neither. He IS eligible for his nation of Birth too Nick

He is a Kiwi. Are you saying an NZ born, raised Kiwi cant play for NZ now?

Sorry Nick Kiwi born and bred actually qualify for NZ.

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