Gold medal coach Ryan captures all the idiosyncrasies of Fijian 7s
IN ONE way you might think there is nothing particularly odd or special about Fiji winning the Olympic Sevens title. They have for three decades now produced some of the best Sevens players on the planet with the game also providing the pathway for lucrative fifteens contracts overseas. But that brilliance hasn’t always reaped it’s just rewards. Ok, they have won a couple of World Cups but although they tend to excel at the showpiece Hong Kong tournament the Fijians have won only three World Series titles to New Zealand’s 12.
Fiji also missed out on gold in the first three Commonwealth Games and then the military coup in their country prevented them from playing in 2010 and 2014.
How to rectify this tendency to freeze on the big occasion and ensure that Fiji celebrated the admission of Rugby Sevens to the Olympic movement? That is the questions that provides the backdrop to Seven
Heaven, Ben Ryans entertaining and insightful account of how his squad delivered Fiji’s first Olympic gold medal.
A change of attitude was need to secure the Holy Grail. Some of the great Fijian stars possibly made it look a little too easy which confused young Fijians looking to emulate them. Waisale Serevi might have strutted like a peacock but hit fitness sessions – I once witnessed one in Hong Kong – were brutal. His genius was underpinned by supreme fitness.
Ryan, a ginge who burns easily in the sun in Newhas
bury, let alone on a Pacific island, took over when Fiji were at a low ebb. On their day they were still imperious but they hadn’t the World Series for seven years and not only were they ceding best to New Zealand but Samoa and South Africa were getting in on the act.
His task was to bring some consistency into Fiji's mercurial game so that even when they weren’t having a magical day they were still very good indeed.
Fiji’s diet needed attention – too much sugar not enough carbohydrates – their time keeping needed to be better and the real crucible of their effort became their monster training sessions on the mountainous sand dunes at Sigatoke.
And of course there were problems with witch doctors, rugby-mad prime ministers and human suffering when a cyclone hit.
Ryan’s most important achievement was masterminding Fiji two consecutive World Series titles in 2015 and 2016 because they offered the springboard to their greatest moment in Rio in the summer of 2016 when they were a class apart.
Fiji were voted the team of the entire Games and their communal singing after their final with Great Britain one of the last images. This book captures it all and so much more.