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Fiji Airways Fiji men’s 7s head coach Osea Kolinisau says the team must lift its defensive standards and maintain consistency as they shift their focus to this weekend’s Cape Town Sevens.

Reflecting on their Dubai campaign, Kolinisau said Fiji’s performances showed promise but also exposed critical areas requiring immediate improvement.

“We’ve got to try and get maximum points out of every game. We thank the boys for the effort,” he said.”

Fiji reached the semifinals in Dubai but let a potential win slip against New Zealand in the dying seconds. “We made it to the semifinal against New Zealand and we had the game in hand and lost it in the last 40 seconds… just a misread. We had a lot of opportunities, but something I wasn’t happy about is our tackles… we had a lot of missed tackles and that’s something we’ve talked about this week.”

He said Fiji cannot afford slow starts or allowing opponents to dictate scoreboard pressure.  

“We started the game really well but we can’t let teams go ahead two or three times and we’re playing catch up rugby. We want to make sure that we start well and maintain the lead so we keep pressure on the other team.”

Despite the semifinal heartbreak, Kolinisau praised the team’s response to defeat. Fiji bounced back to beat France in their final match and secure crucial series points.  

“It’s not easy to find that mental fortitude after you’ve lost the main semifinal… but the boys came out and fought for the points and gave all they had.”

However, discipline remains a major concern after Fiji picked up two red cards in Dubai.

Fiji will take on South Africa in their first game tonight at 10.44pm followed by Great Britain at 1.38 am tomorrow morning before wrapping up their pool games against New Zealand at 5.19am.

You can watch these games LIVE on FBC Sports

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