Just a few days before his contract officially expires, Fiji 7s Olympian Coach Ben Ryan has mapped out a few guidelines for the Fiji Rugby Union.
Ryan has urged Fijians to rally behind the new Coach.
As his three year tenure with the Fiji Rugby Union comes to an end on September 3rd, Ben Ryan has mapped out three major strategies he feels should lay the platform for his Successor.
Ryan has not only fallen in Love with the environment at Uprising he feels it is conducive to creating champions!
“Keep some of the stuff in place so where we are now at Uprising a very good place. It has everything we need with a gym now that can get developed, we have the pitch, we’ve got the beach for recovery and we’ve got a very understanding chef who knows what’s needed for elite performance and the staff know how to behave around world class players.”
The Englishman also feels the FRU should keep and expand contracts for the boys especially those who we know are staying on the island to get contracted now.
“In the short term for Dubai and beyond and in the medium term where Alifereti Veitokani are gonna be world class players. Sevu Mocenacagi those kind of players we’ve got to now have patience with them and just put them into a tournament after tournament so they can get the development that Vatemo Ravouvou and Semi Kunatani and Jerry Tuwai had.”
Foremost he feels we need good Coaching – Fiji he feels has an abundance of talents, it’s not only about winning it’s trying to get a holistic approach in order to succeed.
“There are some talented coaches that they need to understand that it’s up to them. They need to go and find coaching qualifications and to work hard and don’t just think that it’s gonna fall on my lap because I’m coaching a team that’s won Nawaka or one of those tournaments.”
All in all Ryan believes that Coaching a team with rugby crazy loving fans is not easy and he has always learnt to keep an open mind and accept criticism – something that has molded him to create a winning combination.
Ryan has reassured fans in Fiji that success does not come overnight and the new Coach should be given breathing space…whoever it may be and we should all rally together and support the development of rugby in Fiji.