Sevens blame

WHILST we continue to miss out on winning a HSBC series tournament, the question remains, is Ben Gollings to be solely blamed or should we the fans, the stakeholders and everyone take full responsibility just five months away from the Paris 2024 Olympics?

We need to understand and analyse what has happened since 2022 to better evaluate this setback and than look at the best strategy to move forward and quickly with five months to the Olympics. Ben Gollings lost all his support staff when he joined, including the robust conditioning coach Nacanieli Cawanibuka to the Drua which emerged about the same time.

There was no Drua during Ben Ryan and Gareth Baber’s tenure so that is the yawning disparity that every one needs to understand. Ben Ryan had a qualified skills coach assisting him and Ben Gollings only had Viliame Satala beside him.

Who is at fault? There was a lot of chop and changing in the management team for Gollings including the Samoan trainer that disrupted his action plans — who is to be blamed?

We keep harping about getting a new coach now five months before the Olympics. Can the person turn around our fortunes unless he has Nacanieli who, remember, also set up a strict diet plan during Ryan’s tenure which did wonders.

Can we remove the blinkers and look at the holistic picture here not just the team failing on the field, but everyone outside of the field have also failed by not providing the adequate support staffing and expertise that Gollings needed.

Once again there was no Drua during Ryan and Baber’s time so these coaches had the full luxury of resources and equipment.

Now the focus has been on the Drua since 2022 and look at the leap and bounds taken at the expense of sevens. This is the inevitable situation we are in.

We are five months away and we can still do it.

Give Gollings the necessary resources and equipment and the job will surely be done in Paris 2024. Toso Viti. Vacava tacina?

SHALWYN PRASAD

Mukta Ben Place, Nabua, Suva