7s team targets top four finish

THE Fiji Airways Fijian 7s team is targeting a top four finish in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series to gain direct entry to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The HSBC WRSS will act as the primary qualification pathway for Paris.

Fijian 7s head coach Ben Gollings said they were in the top five after three tournaments.

Gollings said they were only seven points adrift of Samoa and South Africa, who were at the top in the series.

“We are in the top five and if you look at it, it is pretty close up there,” he said.

“There were a few other teams such as Australia, for instance, they bombed out and came 11th in the last tournament.

“So this is when you can see how difficult it is to play at this level of the tournaments.

“It is going to be close as the top five teams are playing well.

“There are only seven points separating us from the top teams which is very doable.

“We know that we just need to get back hitting into the finals.

“Then we can control that by getting to the top four.”

Fiji won the gold medal back to back at the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2021 Tokyo Olympics which was held this year because of COVID.

“We want a top four placing at the end of this series to get automatic qualification to the Olympics in Paris,” Gollings said.

“We don’t want to leave it to that chance of playing in the Oceania qualifiers. The focus is the top four, but there is plenty of rugby left.”

Eight tournaments remain in the series.

That includes Hamilton, Sydney, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Singapore, Toulouse and London.

HSBC WRSS Overall Points: Samoa 47, South Africa 47, New Zealand 44, USA 44, Fiji 40, Australia 39, France 38, Argentina 37, Ireland 34, Great Britain 20, Uruguay 20.