Coaching Fiji is fantastic and infuriating – Welshman Baber
ASK Gareth Baber what it’s like to coach Fiji and his reply pretty much says it all.
“Fantastic and absolutely infuriating!” he replies.
The Welshman has been in charge of the Fijian Sevens side since the start of 2017 and guided them to the prestigious World Series title earlier this year.
In that role, he has worked with a number of the star players who will line up against Wales in today’s big World Cup clash – men like Semi Radradra, Leone Nakawara, Josua Tuisova, Viliame Mata, Semi Kunatani and Frank Lomani.
So, he knows exactly what they are capable of, especially winger Radradra, who he dubs one of the most talented players he has have ever coached.
The former scrum-half is also well aware just how much the game matters to the Fijian people, who will gather around TVs in their villages to watch it.
Speaking to Baber via a crackly telephone line from the capital Suva, it was fascinating to get an insight into the mentality of Fiji’s rugby players and the passion for the sport in the South Pacific island country.
“They do things that aren’t supposed to be done on a rugby field,” said the former Cardiff Blues coach.
“When it comes off, it’s fantastic. On occasions, it can fall flat on its face.
“That is just part of the game here. If it doesn’t go to hand, they will just say, ‘that’s all right, we will go and score more tries than you can’.
“There is something really refreshing about that and I think that’s the thing people enjoy the most when they watch Fiji.
“Because it’s in their system from a very young age, it works out in their favour in terms of the percentage of times they make it happen when it looks impossible against the times it falls flat on its face.
“That gives them the belief to keep playing that way.
“You can give them a game-plan, but you always know they are going to get to what their instinct tells them very, very quickly in the match.
“The challenging part as a coach is letting go a bit.
“You’ve always got that pressure in your mind about how hard do you push them to adhere to a system and a pattern and how much scope do you give them to do what they instinctively do and then deal with the fallout, because it doesn’t always work out.
“The most frustrating part is when it doesn’t come off.”
As for summing up the mentality of a Fijian rugby player, Baber has the following to say.
“It is to have as much fun as possible,” said the former Pontypridd and Dragons No.9. “I don’t say that in a crass way. They just thrive on that high-tempo, offloading, continuity style, pace-based game.
“It’s extremely powerful when they get into that rhythm with it.
“Sometimes as a coach, you don’t have to push a button or anything, it just happens. I think it’s because they are so close as families and in their villages and communities.
“Their faith is very, very strong and their sense of why they play rugby is very, very powerful too.
“When that all lines up, they sort of take off. I have witnessed it a number of times.
“A lot of it is based on how they are as people and how they create that focus and energy about themselves.”
Then there’s the Fijian public. How are they responding to this World Cup?
“There’s
Baber.
“In the papers, Sevens is always on the front page and now it’s the 15s.
“It has certainly caught the imagination here.”
As such, one wonders what the reaction was like to the shock defeat at the hands of Uruguay.
“It was similar to bad Five Nations defeats for Wales that I remember growing up where you would have two or three days of depression where people didn’t want to go to work and didn’t talk to each other,” explained Baber.
“Everybody was just at a loss of why that happened. There was disbelief that Fiji had managed to let it slip in that game.
“But despite the loss against Uruguay, there is still a belief that they can beat Wales and the whole country will be watching it.
“The whole country is on red alert,” said Baber.
“As you move away from Suva and Nadi, which are the two biggest towns, people live in villages, with just a couple of hundred people in them, not much bigger than that.
“That’s where all the players come massive interest,” said from. These are the villages the boys grew up in.
“In Fiji, playing rugby is as close to the national identity as it gets and celebrating that together is something they generally do.
“In the village, it is church, community and it is rugby.
“The properties will be very basic. You are talking breeze-block buildings with corrugated roofs and a communal living room.
“Not every house will have a TV, so you can have up to 50 or 60 people all huddled round one television.
“It won’t be surround-sound or anything like that. It will be a very basic television they get to watch it on or possibly listening on the radio.
“All the kids will be up, everyone will be watching. It will be a big event, they will make food, people will come round.
“It’s similar to what we do in Wales, except we would just have a couple of people round, not 50 or 60!
“If there are 10 to 15 properties in the village, I would say about two or three of them would have televisions. Those will be the houses to go to.
“The villagers will all be round one or two properties. That is very Fijian in itself.
“They are very communal people and they spend a lot of time in large groups, with numbers of families together.
“Life in Fiji is very basic and rugby is one of those things that does transcend everything.”
In particular, Sevens is a huge focus and with that comes a fair amount of pressure on the national coach, especially it is given he took over just a few months after they were crowned Olympic champions.
“With Fiji, every Sevens tournament you go to, you’ve got to win every game, it’s incredible,” said Baber.
“That’s what they expect, without a shadow of a doubt.
“It’s been good for me, learning how you manage that and developing a thicker skin.
“It is challenging, but the people are fantastic. It’s a beautiful place to live, just phenomenal.
“You don’t have a lot of technology or the distractions you have in other countries, but for us as a family it’s been a real positive life experience.
“Not having the resources and finances I had previously has forced me to think slightly differently about the way I coach and to be more flexible.
“They don’t have the academy system, the mentorship and the understanding of what pro players do. They are all village kids. You are literally teaching them as you go.
“But you do get close to these Fijian players, these products of the villages.
“Being alongside them, going round the world with them and doing some incredible things is what you want to do as a coach.”
Baber will be watching the game at the British High Commission in Suva, so where will his loyalties lie given his current role?
“It will be a little bit of mixed emotions because I know a lot of the boys and I know how much it means to the Fijian people,” he said.
“But, ultimately, I want to see Wales win the World Cup, so it’s Wales all the way.”
■ More Rugby World Cup news: Page 49