Ben Gollings Responds to brutal criticism from Axed Fiji star Jerry Tuwai

Head coach of the Fiji men’s 7s Ben Gollings, who was attacked personally by legendary sevens player Jerry Tuwai, has made an effort to deflect further criticism of his position by maintaining that teams must “go through the valleys and dark times.”
 

With the defense of Fiji’s gold medal at the Olympics in Paris this summer, and the fact that the team did not win any of the HSBC rounds last year, Gollings is getting his team ready for the upcoming HSBC SVNS leg in Perth later this month. We can’t keep winning games and tournaments because Rome wasn’t built in a day, he told the Fiji Times. We occasionally need to experience adversity and gloom in order to work on ourselves and maintain our focus on our objective.

“We want to start the year on a positive note because this is a very crucial one for us. Our next goal is to win the Perth 7s, the season’s opening competition, and the boys are excited to play.
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The two-time Olympic gold champion Tuwai launched a vicious assault on Gollings after being told he needed to demonstrate his suitability for the current Fiji Sevens squad, claiming the position is beyond what the former England player “can handle.”

Golings had a special heritage to live up to after Fiji won the Olympic gold in Rio in 2016 under Ben Ryan’s coaching and defended it in Japan under former head coach Gareth Baber. He went on, “We know it won’t be easy as we go through the Olympic season because every team out there will be trying to defeat Fiji.”

As reigning champions, “defending the Olympic title comes with its own set of challenges.”

Gollings’ players will compete in the McDonald’s Fiji Coral Coast 7s in Sigatoka to maintain match fitness for his side. “We want to test our players and see how they perform against our local teams in this tournament,” he stated. “The tournament will be an opportunity for them to prove themselves before we head into our first international 7s tournament of the year in Australia, especially for the new and younger players in the side.”

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