Mataiasi Stark 
The Fiji Airways Fiji men’s 7s side will enter this weekend’s Dubai 7s knowing the margin for error has never been smaller, with the new straight semi-final format turning every pool match into a knockout scenario.
The defending champions face the challenge of maintaining last season’s winning standards under a structure that punishes even the slightest slip.
Head coach Osea Kolinisau says the team’s focus is firmly on execution rather than pressure.
“Yeah, this format is a straight quarter-final. Every game we play is a quarter-final, and the boys know that we can’t slip up in one game and we need to really be on our A-game when we play these teams. We’re not thinking about the pressure of the back-to-back, and I told the boys we want to attack this tournament again.”
Kolinisau emphasised that despite being the defending champions, Fiji’s mindset remains aggressive and forward-looking.
“Although we’re defending champions, we want to make sure that we go into the tournament ready to play our cards right and play the Fijian rugby that we’ve been training. We need to execute what we’ve been learning in the past couple of weeks and make sure we get a front foot and get a good start in the tournament.”
Fiji will take on Argentina in their opening match at 9.10 pm on Saturday before facing South Africa at 12.16am on Sunday.
They will wrap up their pool against France at 4.12am on Sunday.
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