Gollings' Fiji successor outlines 'criteria' for Olympic gold defence

Newly-appointed Fiji 7s men’s head coach Osea Kolinisau has arrived from the USA to replace Ben Gollings, who it has been revealed received forewarning before he was eventually sacked.

The gold medal winner, 38, immediately held his first briefing with the squad which included his 2016 Rio Olympics-winning teammates Jerry Tuwai and Vatemo Ravouvou, setting out the path he believes Fiji needs to take to defend their Olympic sevens title in Paris in the summer.

Kolinisau, who has been playing in Major League Rugby in the USA, told the Fiji Sun: “My criteria are not based on experience and talent alone but fitness and training to the standard Fiji sevens is renowned for. It’s the Olympics and we want to take the best players that we have.

“No player is guaranteed a spot on the team as equal opportunity will be given to players. My focus now is Hong Kong SVNS, I’m going to work on our fitness and defence this week. I’m also going to work on our reaction to kick-offs and set pieces.”

He captained Fiji at the 2016 Rio Games where they won the first gold medal available for sevens under coach Ben Ryan and it was defended by a Gareth Baber-led team in Tokyo. However, Fiji have not won a round on the HSBC SVNS Series since May 2022 and Kolinisau’s first target will be at the famous Hong Kong SVNS tournament on April 5-7.

Fiji Rugby Union interim chair Peter Mazey revealed at a press briefing that Gollings had been given clear warnings about his failure to win a tournament.

“He (Gollings) got his first verbal warning in November last year,” said Mazey.

“We had to give three verbals and one written, they were all given.

“The first one was in November, another two were given after the Cape Town and Perth SVNS and he got a written warning after the Vancouver SVNS.”