Osea Kolinisau: 'Everyone wants to win in Hong Kong'

Fiji and the Hong Kong Sevens go hand in hand. Over the years the Far East has been a second home to the Pacific Islanders since the tournament began 50 years ago.

In total Fiji have won the tournament 19 times. They have even been finalists on 30 occasions. New Zealand are the next-most successful team in the event’s history with 13 titles.

To inspire his players Fiji head coach Osea Kolinisau took his squad to the old Hong Kong Stadium sat across Kowloon Bay from the new, shiny Kai Tak Stadium.

“Hong Kong is always big for Fiji,” Kolinisau confirmed. “It was the first tournament we won as a nation and most of them will sit down and watch. We feel that support.

“We just have to get our systems right and make sure we are connected on the field and off the field. To me, defence is going to be huge this weekend. If we can be good at defending, attacking is not a problem for us.

“A lot of the new boys, you could see it in their faces, were thinking, ‘Oh, this is where all those guys played’.

“The legends, the players before us that set the platform and that we grew up watching played here. Just walking in you could feel the history coming flooding back. Everyone wants to win in Hong Kong because our legends played and won here.”

This weekend a whole new host of Fiji players will want to put their name alongside other legends in a white jersey.

Kolinisau is one of those legends, as are the likes of Waisale Serevi, Jerry Tuwai and Seru Rabeni, who have all shone in Hong Kong over the years.

Over six legs of the HSBC SVNS Series, Fiji ended the season second overall asa heartbreaking New York City final loss to South Africa handed the Blitzboks the 2025/26 title.

At the start of the three tournament HSBC SVNS World Championship, Fiji can set a new aim to become world champions.

“I’m proud of the consistency — we’ve become the most consistent team in the series,” Kolinisau said. “I told the boys, ‘You want to be consistent, let’s be consistent in winning’.

“It’s a process, we are on a good trajectory towards the Olympics in 2028. We have our values, we have our cultures and standards.

“I’ve told the boys you’ve got to win as an individual before we win as a whole. I think that’s something we’ve got right. We’re more connected. Everybody is moving together.”