Sevens mind needed to Coach Fiji Sevens

Fiji Rugby Union has this after afternoon  shortlisted four applicants who would Coach the Digicel Sevens side to the 2011- 2012 IRB Sevnes Series. The four are Acura Niuqila, Alifereti Dere, Etuate Waqa and Sailosi Naiteqe. Josateki Savou, who took the team to the Pacific Games in August and the recent Oceania 7s, was tipped to be a front runner for the position is not be named. Meanwhile, Red Rock coach Lote Rasiga has confirmed he has not been informed by FRU to attend an interview. All four Coach shotlisted by Fiji Rugby Union do not have what take to coach the team at the international level. Coaching at international levels requires experience.

How much experience do the four listed have? Acura Niuqila lives in Australia and has played a lot of 15’s game and he is a former Wallabias but let me say playing sevens is different form playing 15’s. I wonder how much coaching experiences does he have or have he ever coach a 7s side at a international level. Second on the list is Alifereti Dere, he does not show much promising CV. He is too old to coach a 7s side at international level. 50 years old and want to coach 7s, I think that is not a good idea. Third on the paper is Etuate Waqa who has no prove record about coaching at any level. He is a local who club is Nadera. Not a right person for sevens. Last on the list is Sailosi Naiteqe who is also local based and has only six caps for Fiji in 15’s. Many have come and gone but form my view only two people had the heart for Fiji sevens. Sevens legend Waisale Serevi and 2005 sevens world cup winning coach Wayne Picva showed that if you have the heart for the game than you can do anything in the game of sevens. They chosen the players they knew can do the job on the field. They did not need selectors the players that won the 2006-2007 world sevens series. They had the final say in which player they wanted and not the selectors. The way it looks right now Fiji rugby is heading to its worst time in the sevens game. The question is way to bail the singing boat. Well the answers lay right in FRU. Change the player selection category and get a coach who has experience in the sevens game for a long while.

The Fiji Rugby Union sub-committee, which is headed by chairman Colonel Mosese Tikoitoga, will interview the four shortlisted applicants, which includes Acura Niuqila, Alifereti Dere, Etuate Waqa and Sailosi Naiteqe.

 My thinking is former New Zealand sevens player and current New Zealand assistant coach Eric Rush is the best person to bail sevens out. He has played a lot of sevens and he is always seen second to Severi. He has being working with world greatest coach Gordon Tietjens for a number of years and he might our answer to the questions everybody in Fiji is asking and that why hasn’t is New Zealand changed a coach since the seven series started. We only can say so much but the final say lays on the shoulders on FRU, so all the best in the 2011-2012 sevens series and we only can hope that Fiji can win a sevens after a drought of 20 months. The last one was in Wellington 2010.