WE latch on ‘believe’ to do great things.
But we forget, and believe both cures and hurts.
We believed in Osea Kolinisau as a better choice coach for the Fiji men’s 7s team.
And we believed in his know-how to help turn 22 tournament losses around and for good measures bring back the lost glory.
The Fiji Rugby Union, fans and former players believed in the change.
And with an aplomb, our sevens got back on the forefoot.
Kolinisau drew praise for being the architect behind the HSBC SVNS World Series Dubai Sevens win and third place in the Cape Town Sevens.
We celebrated, but as said, seeing is not always believing, belief hurts.
In just the third leg of the HSBS SVNS World Series, Fiji is back to ‘chasing a rainbow’.
Losses to Uruguay 27-17 in the opening game and South Africa 19-0 in the quarterfinal have put him on notice.
Step-up
Kolinisau got called out for the team’s wishy-washy Perth leg of the tournament.
Perth saw a physically and mentally drained team.
The team also lacked the most important requisites of the sport, discipline, teamwork and decisions in other areas that failed the team miserably.
Kolinisau has a job to do, and that’s to put together a competitive team with a sound game plan.
He did, but for a bit, now things are beginning to look different, a lot different.
The team ended up finishing fifth, beating France 17-5.
Fiji, Argentina and Spain share the lead with 48 points each.
Reset focus
With 7 more circuits to go, all the more focus needs to be put on Canada Sevens in Vancouver, the coach needs to have a good conversation with the players.
Kolinisau must create a bubble around the team so they can mentally ignore the failed run.
He needs to change the targets and set desired objectives that can be achieved.
Focus away from losing and concentrate on positive aspects.
Build a team that could raise the probability of winning in the next contest and beyond.
It is all about stepping up or else staying down.
