NATIONAL sevens coach Alifereti Dere cannot stress enough the importance of ball retention to his players when they are in Hong Kong this week.
The Digicel Fiji 7s side is pooled with Spain, Canada and hosts Hong Kong for the event.
Dere said possession was one area which his side had problems with earlier this season.
He said they had lost a lot of possession which cost them games or resulted in tries being scored against them.
"I have been emphasising to the boys the importance of possession and will continue to do so until we take to the field next weekend," the former national rep said.
"Without possession we cannot score so we must make sure we keep the ball in hand as much as possible and keep the ball flowing."
The former national rep said he would be working on correcting line-outs, kick offs and set pieces because those were three areas in which they easily lost the ball.
"The line-outs, kick offs and set pieces are three of our major weaknesses.
"We often lose the ball forward or give possession to the opposing team which then puts our side under pressure.
"So this is one thing I have been talking to the boys about.
"If we can retain possession from line-outs and kick offs, we will have the advantage because we have the ball in our hands.
"I made it simple to the boys that if they don't have the ball in their hands, then they cannot score, so they have to get the ball first if they want to score."
Dere said they showed videos of their games to the boys to make them understand where they went wrong and what options they could have taken.
"Well the other legs are behind us and we look forward to the Hong Kong 7s where we have been placed in a competitive pool," he said.
The team leaves this morning from Nadi International Airport for Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong 7s kicks off on Friday.