News

Fiji’s turnover skills rated highly by World Rugby

April 13, 2019 12:51 pm

The Fiji Airways 7s side has been rated the King of turnovers in the World 7s Series.

According to World Rugby, Fiji has won 195 turnovers and lost 125 so far this season.

Following behind is New Zealand winning 179 turnovers and losing 123 and South Africa with 172 turnovers, losing 137.

Fijian forward Meli Derenalagi will be under close scrutiny from other teams given his high rate of successful turnovers.

Rugby Pundit and Commentator Rob Vickerman on Twitter says this looks at a different side of the entertainers of World 7’s series.

He adds turnovers is a part of their game they have developed, honed and now dominate.

Meanwhile, the Gareth Baber coached side will be under a huge amount of pressure with the World Series title at stake, as well as being the defending Singapore 7s champion.

Baber says the player’s welfare and mental preparation is paramount as they head into defending their title this weekend.

“Outside of that there are other things that go on around the lives of these players and what I want to do as a coach is I want to eradicate those pressure and ensure that these players even though they might not be with us from camp to camp are able to have a balance in their consistency – I’d say to look after themselves and the mentality of being top-level performers.”

The Singapore 7s will kick off at 2pm.

Fiji meets Canada at 4.36 this afternoon, they will then play Scotland at 8.02pm and take on South Africa at 11.28pm in its last pool match.

You can watch the entire tournament live on FBC TV.