‘Mentality is important’: Fiji focuses on mental toughness ahead of Paris semi-final

It remains a tall task for the Fiji men’s rugby sevens team to make history by winning a third consecutive gold medal in Paris.

The last four games have been very physically demanding for the players, especially the group stage match against France and the quarter-final against Ireland.

As Fiji has not won any of its 20-plus matches in the HSBC SVNS Series since 2022, they entered the Games as underdogs.

Head coach Osea Kolinisau and captain Jerry Tuwai both believe that what the team now needs is mental toughness to make history at the Paris Olympics this weekend.

Both won their first gold medals in 2016 in Brazil.

Tuwai returned to Tokyo in 2022 and led the team to victory again.

Collinsaw is back in coaching as he looks to become the first coach to win Olympic gold in rugby sevens and do so as a champion coach.

Tuwai is competing for the third time and has a chance to rewrite history once again.

Collinsault said mental strength was key to their win over Ireland and he believes it will be vital for the players as they progress into the medal play-offs on Sunday.

“Our biggest opponent is ourselves,” he said.

“If we put it here, people can see the shadow on the ground.

“That’s what we focus on, to make sure we’re on at the right moment. Mindset plays a big role.”

Tuwai did not play any matches for the team during the 2022/23 series under former coach Ben Gollings and he will have to get himself match fit to make the squad.

He said reaching the final stages of the competition also requires them to have good mental qualities.

“For us, mentality is important. Mentality is a big thing we have to get right before we go into the stadium,” he said.

“We are in a good state of fitness, physicality and mentality. Mentally, we can relax.

“This is the biggest sporting event in the world and anything can happen.”

Fiji will play Australia in the second semi-final at 2am on Sunday.

In the quarterfinals, the team came from a 15-7 deficit to defeat Ireland 19-15.

Favorites New Zealand and Argentina both lost in the quarterfinals.

Argentina, which was in excellent form in this season’s world series, suffered a crushing defeat to host France 26-14.

In the first quarter-final, South Africa, which had suffered two consecutive defeats in the group stage, defeated New Zealand 14-7.

South Africa became one of the two best third-placed teams in the group stage, while New Zealand finished first in the group.

The first semi-final between South Africa and France kicked off at 1.30am.

Samoa vie for ninth place

Meanwhile, Samoa will be chasing ninth spot after recording two wins on Friday morning.

The team had a bad start, losing to Australia and Argentina, but bounced back strongly, defeating Kenya and Japan.

They beat Kenya 26-0 in the third Group A match and thumped Japan 42-7 in the 9th to 12th place play-off.

They will face Kenya again on Sunday following their win over Uruguay earlier today (Friday).

Hosts France and South Africa will meet in the other semi-final.

Argentina, Ireland and New Zealand all missed out on medals after losing in the quarter-finals.

Other participating teams

After the opening ceremony, athletes from some Pacific Island countries will wave their national flags at the start of their respective competitions.

The competitions, which include archery, women’s rugby, badminton, boxing, sailing and surfing, will take place over the next five days.

Fiji will be the only Pacific Island nation to compete in women’s rugby, having won a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Taekwondo and weightlifting competitions will begin on August 7.

The games will end on August 11.