HAPPY VALLEY FIASCO
By Matt Ryan

Hong Kong was certainly an eye opener in terms of the standard of the competition and the atmosphere in the stadium. It is an amazing place and every Rugby fan in the world should try and get to Hong Kong at least once to experience it. The crowd is just as much entertainment as the matches, they dress up as priests, nuns, chickens, escaped prisoners, you think of it and someone will be dressed up like it. Add to these outrageous costumes an unbelievable amount of alcohol and you start to get feeling for the Hong Kong experience.

The standard of the competition was certainly an eye opener for me, the pace and power of the players was awesome. I was the coach of Singapore and we were belted from pillar to post by the likes of Argentina and France. We only scored 1 try during the tournament and my guys really struggled with the pace and intensity of the games. This was understandable given our lead up and the amateur status of our players. We only train twice a week and have no IRB lead up tournaments. Contrast this to England who have a fulltime squad training twice a day and who participate in all IRB tournaments.

I was also surprised to see that Fiji has been left behind in terms of preparation and resources. Their squad was noticeably smaller and not as quick as the other top nations, they were also lacking in the core skills now required of sevens players. I read the Fiji press reports after Hong Kong and it is apparent that the Fiji press and public do not realise that the rest of the world has passed Fiji in terms of sevens preparation and programming. England, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia have players who are contracted for the duration of the IRB Sevens Tournament and they also have large support staffs to assist their teams off the field.

I noticed that Fiji have arrived in Singapore this week with coach, manager and physio. This is the absolute bare minimum in terms of support staff and significantly less than the other top nations. The Fiji public do not realise that they were the best in the world for many years because they were the only country concentrating on Sevens. Times have changed they are now up against very well resourced professional national teams who are better organised and better supported than Fiji. Until Fiji have in place a program that is as professional and well resourced as the other nations, the Fiji public better get used to losing.

In terms of the Singapore Team, I never want to go back to Hong Kong so poorly prepared. Seeing the standard of the competition I know that I have to get Singapore invited to at least 2 more IRB Tournaments. We also have to find the resources to get our players training fulltime for a certain period of the year. If we can’t get a program similar to the other top nations we will never be able to compete at Hong Kong.

I am glad I am not in the Fijian Coach’s shoes he has a lynch mob waiting for him back in Fiji. It’s a shame the management and team cop all the blame for the fiasco in Hong Kong when it goes back to resources and planning. If Fiji want to be the best in the world again they need to have 20 players contracted for 12 month blocks, they also need a large support staff to travel with the team. This will bring them to an equal level with the other top Sevens Nations. Here in Singapore we will certainly be trying to get a program like this up and running as quick as we can.

Email Matt Ryan at bubbaemu@hotmail.com

Regards
Matt (Bubba) Ryan