18 Feb 2017

Sport: Fiji 7s working on improvements

12:15 pm on 18 February 2017

The Fiji sevens team are attempting to simulate the intensity of tournament time in training, in an effort to revive their World Series title defence.

Hong Kong sevens coach Gareth Baber will take charge of Olympic champions Fiji in January.

Hong Kong sevens coach Gareth Baber will take charge of Olympic champions Fiji in January. Photo: Andy Jones / Hong Kong Rugby Union / AFP

The Olympic gold medallists are third in the World Series standings, 21 points behind runaway leaders South Africa, who've won three of the first four legs.

Under new head coach Gareth Baber they've finished runners-up in Wellington and fifth in Sydney.

The Welshman has taken plenty from his first fortnight in the hotseat.

"Probably some crucial points in a couple of games which sort of let us down but we've reflected on them."

"There's a lot of good we're doing at the moment and I feel pretty confident the way we play the game but, as any coach will tell you, you need everybody to understand exactly how you want to play the game the way we are playing it, both with and without the ball, to be successful and it's areas of our game we will continue working at," Baber said.

"I don't want to lose what is our point of difference as a squad as well. I saw that in Sydney and I saw that in Wellington also but obviously as the coach you're always looking at things you can work on."

Baber said they're trying to recreate the intensity and pressure situations that happen in tournaments.

"It's finding ways to do that and challenge the players to think clearly and emotionally control themselves in a game and tactically get things right."

There's obviously certain areas of our game that we're looking at when pressure comes on how can we be better and other areas that really serve us well as well."

"It's a good period to get together and reflect on that, go over some of those learnings from the previous two tournaments and see exactly how we can develop it going out onto the field in Vegas and Vancouver," he said.

The World Sevens Series resumes in Las Vegas in two weeks time.

Fiji run out at Westpac Stadium

Fiji run out at Westpac Stadium Photo: PHOTOSPORT