VODAFONE Fiji 7s coach Ben Ryan says lethargic play resulted in the poor performance of the national side in the final day of the Hong Kong 7s tournament at the Hong Kong Stadium on Sunday.
Fiji lost in the Cup semi-final to England 7-17 Sunday night.
Earlier the side struggled to beat United States in the quarter-final 17-5.
Ryan said they lacked the firepower that put the team in good shape after the pool matches.
Fiji defeated Wales 42-7, Sri Lanka 56-0 and Kenya 43-5 in the pool competition.
Ryan said the priority now was to finish on the best possible place in the HSBC Sevens World Series.
“We definitely were a little bit tired there in that game, didn’t get enough go from the start and they got a good lead and it was tough in the end,” Ryan said after the England game.
In the semi-final loss, total ball given away by Fiji was 11 compared to five of England and the side lost two turnovers.
The Osea Kolinisau-skippered side also dominated the error count on two and also conceded six penalties to only one for the English.
England won 10 set piece ball to only two for Fiji and completed 41 passes in the disappointing loss.
Fiji’s strike rate was 41 per cent compared to less than five in the pool game.
“We going to get back at series point. I get them to freshen up a little bit because we certainly looked a little bit lethargic,” Ryan said.
“Fair play to England, they are a full-time professional side and their set piece was good against us.
“They moved us around, I thought we were just a little bit quiet on the field and that’s something I have talked about for two or three weeks really.
“I told them we need to talk a little bit more and that can get us out in lot of problems but still overall we had a terrific few weeks.
“We have only lost one out of the last 14 or 15 games and hope we can finish on a high.’
The team will regroup when they return home this week and plan for the last two tournaments of the 2014 HSBC Sevens World Series in London and Scotland.
Suva (Fiji Times)
