Fiji, Japan Try Out Olympic Schedule
The Fiji men’s rugby sevens team had another session of warm-up matches against Japan at Albert Park, Suva, yesterday
The matches are played under the Olympic Games schedule format seeing two consecutive days of games last Friday, followed by a rest day on Sunday, before culminating in the finals.
This mirrors the scheduling structure of the Olympic Sevens competition, allowing players to acclimatise to the demands of back-to-back matches and recovery periods.
Fiji sevens head coach, Osea Kolinisau, said this was a great opportunity to test out his squad, particularly the younger players who didn’t feature in recent tours.
“I’m testing the young boys by playing them against Japan. This is to give them experience of playing an overseas side,” he told FRU media.
“We are thankful for the Japan team for this opportunity as it will help us fine-tune our preparations and assess the depth of our squad ahead of the Olympics,” Kolinisau said.
Singapore Sevens
Meanwhile, the Fiji men’s team is in Pool C of the Singapore Sevens, where they face Ireland, USA and Great Britain.
The tournament is from May 3-5.
This will be a tough pool as the Great Britain side will need to put on a strong performance to avoid missing out on the grand final in Madrid, Spain, next month.
The top eight teams in both the men’s and women’s series will battle it out for the SVNS title, with the ninth to 12th-placed teams competing in a relegation playoff in the Spanish capital.
The Great Britain men’s team, semi-finalists at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and silver medallists at Rio 2016, currently sit in ninth place. Seven points behind the USA, they need a strong performance to avoid the relegation play-offs in what has been a disappointing season so far, apart from a runners-up finish in Los Angeles in early March.
If they fail to finish top of their group, or as one of the two best third-placed teams, they will go through to the relegation play-offs. Canada have already missed out on the Grand Final with Samoa and Spain likely to follow suit.
The Fiji women’s side is in Pool C where they take on Australia, Great Britain and Brazil.