Fijiana coach Saiasi Fuli had one goal apart from the Olympics gold medal: “I really wanted to shock the world of 7s by changing the culture and environment of women’s rugby and show the world that we can beat any team.”
To do this, he and his coaching staff put the Fijiana girls under a strict training regime including a strict meal plan.
For three months the girls had no carbs, no sugar, no milk and no kakana dina (root crops).
The girls were even denied their phones. They only got their phones for the weekends and were allowed only one cheat meal (either KFC or BBQ) on Saturdays. Then it was back to the meal plan!
They haven’t seen their families for 15 weeks and another two weeks in quarantine will be added to that.
After the 17-22 loss to NZ in the semifinal – the team launched a complaint to Paddy O’Brien regarding five key calls made by the ref specifically mentioning the incident/time/player/jersey no/law book. The team felt the pace of the game took its toll on the ref and she was out of reach of the actual plays.
The Fijiana now move on to play for the Bronze medal at 8.30 pm against Great Britain.
Photo: Fiji Rugby
