Baber: Talks ongoing with European clubs as gold medal pressure mounts
Gareth Baber knows all about the weight of national expectation as he attempts to mastermind Fiji’s defence of their HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series title and a repeat of the historic gold medal winning Olympic triumph at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
Fiji’s 2016 Olympic Games gold was turned into a book by former head coach Ben Ryan and became an acclaimed film, Sevens from Heaven charting the amazing achievement by some of the World’s most talented, yet underfunded rugby union players, who seamlessly moved from village matches to an Olympic Games final in Brazil.
Now, Baber, who took over from Ryan as head coach after the Games, knows the entire Fiji nation is looking to him to match that momentous achievement in the New Year which earned the rugby mad country their first ever Olympic medal.
Baber is under no illusions about the task he faces and a ninth finish in Dubai was followed by fourth place in Cape Town leaving the squad with plenty of work to undertake leading into the next Sevens Series leg in Hamilton on January 25 when a change of format means the four pool winners go straight into the semi-finals.
Baber told RugbyPass: “Here in Fiji, sevens rugby is the lifeblood of the community, you then times that by a thousand when it comes to the potential of going to an Olympic Games and defending a gold medal. I know what John McKee ( who coached Fiji at the 2019 Rugby World Cup) went through and it is an expectation that lives with every national coach here in Fiji because of the talent.
“Has winning the gold medal been mentioned? Only every day! I have always tried to stay away from outcomes other people set for you, but my job is to keep the players’ feet on the ground and focused on what we have to do in the Series and we won’t get to the Olympics in the right place unless we do that. It’s one battle at a time.”
"When you get to quarter-final stages you wanna see both sides of your game workin"
Gareth Baber spoke after @fijirugby beat Ireland to secure their place in the semi-final at the #CapeTown7s pic.twitter.com/BR501vYVv6
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) December 15, 2019
With less than a year until the Olympic defence, Baber has been mapping out the route he believes can take them to another gold medal, although rivals such as South Africa, USA and New Zealand are putting together their own formidable squads for the Series. Toulouse-based Cheslin Kolbe, the live-wire wing who helped South Africa win the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, has made it clear he wants a crack at Olympic gold while the USA boasts the world class speed of Perry Baker and Carlin Isles to try and counter the natural flair of the Fijian players.
With Kolbe wanting to add his skills to the Blitzboks, there is considerable interest in which European based players will be released to help Fiji defend the title in Japan with the French based pair of gold medal winner Josua Tuisova (Lyon) and Semi Radradra (Bordeaux), two of the world class talents being mentioned. However, Baber believes it is vital for those players to appear at some stage in the Sevens series this season.
“There are supporters of rugby clubs who have watched coaches getting sacked and players leave and all different kinds of things, and part of that has been because of Saracens cheating. You can’t run away from it."https://t.co/VPK94FgWJZ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 29, 2019
“Anybody who is building a team to compete in the World Series and the Olympics needs mechanisms and weapons in your armoury beyond just having talent on the pitch,” explained Baber. “What we have in our favour in Fiji is that all of the boys have grown up playing sevens and coming back into the squad from the 15s game is not as difficult. However, there are elements that are needed for them to be able to compete at that level having moved into the 15s.
“That is something we would want to see during the Series and I have spoken to clubs in Europe about a few players being available and it is my job to create and keep that team ethos while integrating a couple of those European based players who have a particular skills set through the season. Boys who have played for me in the last couple of years like Josua Tuisova and Semi Radradra are keen but they are all playing for top clubs in Europe and primacy of contract is with those clubs. You would want to see those players in tournaments before the Olympics because you need to create that team ethos so that when they are under pressure they can work together.”
Baber’s planning for the Olympic Games has already involved identifying the squad’s training camp in Japan and he added: “Instead of ten tournaments we are talking 11 and you don’t really take into account the gravity of that last one! There is also a six week block of recovery and work that can be undertaken before the Olympics and it all enters into the planning.
“The planning is all aimed at getting the players to a position where they are able to be competitive throughout the whole year because momentum is so important and team development is a key factor along with getting things right in one-off tournaments. You need to have real squad depth to allow you to rotate players throughout the year and all of this is working towards getting the timing right for that 11th tournament in Tokyo.”
A major concern coming into the current Sevens Series was discipline on the pitch and the problem remains with captain, Paula Dranisinukula, Sevuloni Moceinacagi, Vilimoni Botitu, Meli Derenalagi, Waisea Nacuqu, Isoa Tabu, Kavekini Tabu, and Josua Vakurunabili all receiving yellow cards in the two tournaments to date and Baber may have to consider dropping those who continue to hurt the team’s chances. Baber said:” Discipline has really let us down. It is not the end of the World now, but it will be if we don’t do something about it.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments