The Fiji Rugby Union is seeking explanations for the Fiji women’s rugby sevens team’s disappointing performance at the Paris Olympic Games in France.
This was highlighted during an interview with Fiji Rugby High Performance Women’s Manager Alana Thomas by SUNsports yesterday.
The team, which won a bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, suffered a narrow 17-14 loss to Canada in their opening Pool A match, followed by a significant 40-12 defeat by Olympic debutants China. Coach Saiasi Fuli’s team now faces a daunting challenge against New Zealand today, needing a victory to have any chance of advancing to the medal playoffs.
Thomas described the start of the Olympics as very tough and expressed her disappointment with the initial results.
“The results after day one are disappointing,” she told SUNsports. “However, we will await discussions with the coaches and our programme manager who is with the team. We have had good preparation leading into the Olympics, and reports before the first day indicated that the team was in a good place.”
Thomas also confirmed that a review of the Olympic teams is scheduled for August.
It is understood that this review could lead to changes, potentially including the removal of Fuli as the women’s sevens head coach, especially given that they have not won any tournaments in the HSBC SVNS outside of the Olympics.
“As with all tournaments, we conduct a review. A comprehensive Olympic review was planned prior to the Olympics, as is standard for most High Performance teams or sports after a major event,” Thomas said. “This review is scheduled for early August when the teams return from Paris.”
Thomas also addressed allegations made by local coaches on Facebook that she had interfered with the women’s team’s camping and training programme.
“Before my appointment, the players were contracted and placed in a centralized daily training setup, not in camps like the men,” she explained. “After one of the HSBC series legs, we conducted a review and agreed to revert the women’s team to a camp-based environment leading to the Olympics. While training processes are discussed in reviews, the staff are responsible for on-field delivery.”