Former national rugby coach Brad Johnstone believes the national side is in dire straits and would have to take extreme measures to compete well in the upcoming France Rugby World Cup which kicks off in three months.
Johnstone believes current coach Ilivasi Tabua is in very trying circumstances and is doing all he could to galvanise a team which has not been able to play together in the lead up to the biggest stage in rugby.
“As I said before Ili has inherited a very difficult situation,” Johnstone said.
“I believe he is doing all he can under the circumstances but if his players are spread all over the world and his finances have been cut by 50 percent, Fiji is in a pretty dire situation.”
Johnstone said the players in the squad for IRB Sevens series and European Club players did not help either opting to play in their circuits instead of taking part in the Pacific 6 Nations competition in the lead up to
France.
“He has 7s players opting to play sevens, he has players in Italy and France preferring their clubs ahead of the world cup build up,” he said.
Johnstone who led the national side to their first play-offs since the inaugural tournament caused an uproar in rugby circles around the country after giving an ultimatum eight months before the 1999
Wales tournament.
The former All Black prop told sevens players including current national sevens coach Waisale Serevi weeks before the
Hong Kong sevens tournament to either join the squad preparing for the rugby world cup or get chopped from the team.
The team went on to play class rugby and just missed a quarterfinal berth after losing to France 19-28 in controversial circumstances in their deciding final pool match after defeating Canada and Namibia comfortably in earlier matches.
When pressed what solution he had to offer if given the reins to lead the operation; the hard nosed resort operator says he believes an army style month long camp and bigger personal staff would be the remedy to overcome the hurdles faced by the team before the top 20 nations face off in France from September 7.
He said he would hire a five man coaching squad, three-man medical team, dietician, a cultural leader and a religious leader.
“Then I would take the top 40 players into an army camp type situation, train them, both physically and mentally but most of all create a body of men, who have pride in representing Fiji on and off the paddock,” Johnstone said.
1 Comment
Sunday, June 10, 2007 at 11.49am06
In its build up towards the RWC, the Fiji team needs this types of games and more of it now. This should temper and mould the team (including the coaching staff) into a more formadible one before day one of the WRC when we face off with the four other teams in our pool.
Comparitively the JAB, the Australian “A” team as well its first team, has all its players competing in the super 14 competition, and with that type of rugby game conditioning week in, week out, at that level, we should not be suprised at all or too harsh on ourselves with the results dished out at us, thus far.
We will get it right in good time, before the World Cup, after these experiences and more of it.
Just one thing though, we probably respect these teams too much, and are sidelining our strength in running rugby.
Samoa and more so Tonga are teams who do not respect anyone except when playing its Pacific neighbours.
The results against JAB with Tonga and the Spring Bok against Samoa this weekend will testify to this.
Nevetheless the FijiRugbyBlog, is a great idea and I am sure followers, in either the Fijian and the English language, will frequent this page worldwide.
Good luck