1
'He is always ready to do the rubbish work himself' - Baber hails his Fijian sevens skipper
Gareth Baber believes the humility and attention to detail of captain Paula Dranisinukula is absolutely vital to Fiji’s bid to overtake the USA at the top of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
ADVERTISEMENT
A remarkable fifth successive Hong Kong title means Fiji head into the defence of their Singapore 7s crown just seven points behind the USA in the overall table with three rounds of the hotly contested Series left.
The Fijian coach blooded eight new players in Hong Kong and has praised the influence of his captain in shaping the squad and ensuring they remain humble as they deal with the rapid turnaround for the Singapore tournament.
Speaking to FijiVillage, Baber said: “Paula has put Hong Kong in its right place and is the first to move on and that is leadership qualities in my mind because he is somebody who understands the little elements about what we do not the big displays of behaviour and he is always ready to do the rubbish work himself.
“Paula leads the recovery of the players and gets them into the right head space to ensure they are not letting anything drop around them like timings or clothing. They have responsibilities for doing jobs around us like collecting laundry, picking up the bags and balls at the right time.
Singapore 🇸🇬, here we go… 🇫🇯🏆🙌🏾
On the road to defend our next 3 consecutive titles
(#HongKong7s ✔️ #Singapore7s 🇸🇬#London7s 🇬🇧)Pool Matches- Saturday, 13 April
4.36pm Fiji vs Canada 🇨🇦
8.02pm Fiji vs Scotland 🏴
11.28pm Fiji vs South Africa 🇿🇦 pic.twitter.com/Znev5EBfAj— Fiji 7s Team (@Fiji7sTeam) April 11, 2019
“That is what part of being a family is about; being a leader or a father means you have to lead by example and he did that fantastically well last week in Hong Kong.”
New Zealand, who finished a disappointing sixth place in Hong Kong, are promising to bounce back in Singapore to boost their bid for automatic qualification for the Olympic Games in Tokyo by securing a top four finish at the conclusion of the Series.
ADVERTISEMENT
With the @HSBC_Sport @WorldRugby7s coming to @SGSportsHub this weekend, @Best6Analysis takes a look at what fans can expect post the Hong Kong madness. He's also looking forward to seeing @BrianODriscoll try his hand at some Rugby Badminton?! #Singapore7s https://t.co/c9guOpzoos
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 11, 2019
Key All Black player Sam Dickson said: “As long as everyone can improve at least two per cent for this week then that’s a big gain overall for the team. We will be bringing a lot of mongrel and fire in Singapore to make up for this weekend, but we have plenty of belief in our systems.”
WATCH: Jim Hamilton explore the rugby sights of Singapore
Comments on RugbyPass
And the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
2 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
23 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
2 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
21 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
1 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
13 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
21 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
13 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
23 Go to commentsVern challenging this Blues side might be the edge they need to fulfill their potential. Convincing results from strong D and strong carries are hard to argue against.
1 Go to commentsLove seems to add a strong back field defense with speed to close the gap and tackle to his ability to attack, kick and pass (an accurate long pass). This sets him an edge over some of the other names - JRK in particular. Has to be said that Jordan and Stevenson have also been exposed defensively while Love has yet to face test match intensity. Spoilt for choice.
1 Go to commentsHe’s strung together a few strong seasons, I’d like to see him in the ABs and build some depth along with Reiko and ALB. Levi Aumua hasn’t taken the step we hoped to see but time yet.
2 Go to commentsWhere has our good friend Pecos gone!? Similar place to the Crusaders D, the abyss.
4 Go to commentsNice piece Nick. I haven’t seen much of the brumbies this year so will keep my powder dry on charlie, but clearly has the speed and footwork to be damaging in space. Similar to Samu, I’d worry about the size of our pack if the likes of Mcreight and Cale were in the b/row together. Maybe Cale could play a similar finisher role like Samu did for Rennie’s wallabies. Has Cale leapfrogged wilson in your eyes? He obviously has the lineout, but harry probably better (although not great) in the physical stuff and also has great hands in the loose. You’d have to say mcreight and valetini are shoe-ins at 7/8, so the question becomes who matches best with them at 6 and on the bench. I don’t know if he has a high enough ceiling, but id love to see wright given a shot based on how much bad luck he has had with injuries. He may also fit that no-nonsense graft/work rate irish approach…? If schmidt wants size and a 4/6 tweener then I’d probably pick Uru. On the bench I’d have no idea, Wilson if you want to give valetini a rest, and maybe hanigan/wright/uru as 6 replacements.
21 Go to commentsWho the heck is Billy Fulton?
13 Go to commentsCale has all the potential no doubt. So has Harry Wilson except for his dumb arse coach over the last few years who told him just to run at brick walls all the time. Valentini would be devastating at 6. As he was until some idiot thought oh yeah, move our best player to another position. Not mentioning any flightless or thank you names of course. I very much dislike claiming one player is the saviour, because injuries are so prevalent in the game these days as the players are bigger and faster, so the discussion should be who are at least the best two players in one position. For me it’s Harry Wilson and Cale at 8 at the moment with Valentini or Hooper from the Brumbies at 6. Great options. Seru Uru should be in the reserves too. A game changer.
21 Go to commentsScott Barrett is a card waiting to happen, Cane has been out with injury as well as playing in Japan, I think they’ll go with in-Japan-but-still-the-man Savea. Samisoni Taukeaho will be Captain after 2027, so he might get some Captain minutes against an Italy or Japan.
13 Go to comments