Olympic Games 7s rugby gold medal winning coach Ben Ryan believes Fiji is one of the better prepared teams heading into the games in Tokyo later this year.
This is despite Fiji and the world facing the devastation brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Fiji have had better preparation than any other teams in the world with the ability to play so many high level tournaments in Fiji and be able to train normally,” Ryan said.
“It’s a weird year full stop, with no series for the past year, and no one knows the form going into the Olympics, and very few countries have been able to do that.”
But as the Fiji team played top clubs locally as the best option available for the defending Olympics champion, Ryan has also warned our boys not to be complacent.
“One thing they should be careful about is not getting used to just playing against the style of other Fijian teams.
“Opposition at the Olympics will attack and defend very differently to the teams playing in Fiji and they need to be very aware and plan for that.”
Ryan was in support of national coach Gareth Babers’s training program saying he didn’t select his final team until days out from the deadline.
“I picked a training squad of 21 players and we selected the team for Rio only a few days before the official Olympics deadline.” The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has extended the deadline for final sport entries, to July 5, 2021.
