Pablo Feijoo: 'I'm proud of the guys who fought hard right to the end'

German Men’s Sevens head coach Pablo Feijoo has expressed fitness concerns for his team ahead of the HSBC SVNS World Championship.

In the HSBC SVNS 2 finale in São Paulo, Feijoo’s Germany ended the tournament with just seven fit players. They started Day 2 with eight.

These circumstances led the German Wolfpack to finish bottom of the pile in Brazil. A stark contrast to their win in Nairobi and second-place finish in Montevideo.

As a result the 43-year-old Spaniard is concerned with how many players he will have available for the first World Championship event in Hong Kong in three weeks’ time.

“That was a tough tournament for us,” Pablo Feijoo said. “And unfortunately, it went as badly as possible, because we lost a lot of players over the last two weekends.

“We now have to regroup for Hong Kong, but whether we can really field our best team there is questionable. However, I’m proud of the guys who fought hard right to the end.”

It has been confirmed that Germany will take a place in Pool B in Hong Kong alongside HSBC SVNS Series runners-up Fiji, as well as France and Great Britain.

These next three weeks of preparation will be key to Germany’s World Championship campaign. At this stage Series qualification could well be out of the question, but having already upset the odds, anything remains possible.

“Of course, it’s not great to finish a tournament like this in sixth place,” Tim Lichtenberg, Germany’s captain, said. “But with so many injuries, it’s not surprising in the end.

“It speaks volumes for us that we were able to secure early qualification for the World Championship in such a strong field. This allowed us to prepare for Hong Kong and, unfortunately, also try to avoid further injuries.”