A selector for the Samoa sevens team has urged fans to be patient while the team continues to rebuild.
Samoa managed just two wins at the Hong Kong Sevens over the weekend before being knocked out in the bowl semi finals.
The Director of Development for the Samoa Rugby Union, and national sevens selector, Taufusi Salesa, says the introduction of new players this season was well overdue but the short term consequence is the team lacks leadership and exposure at the top level.
He says the players don't currently have the mental strength to compete at the back end of tournaments but that can only come with time.
"There's plenty here but what we lack is exposure and experience. What we should have done in the past last two or three years, is that we inject two new guys in so by now we will have six, if we had injected them season by season. So I alone will feel that the gap will not be seen as a lack of experience but a change that we needed".
Taufusi Salesa says he expects the team to be much more competitive come the Commonwealth Games in July.
