{"id":68917,"date":"2024-03-08T17:20:03","date_gmt":"2024-03-08T17:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/fiji-sevens-axe-head-coach-ben-gollings-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2024-03-08T17:20:03","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T17:20:03","slug":"fiji-sevens-axe-head-coach-ben-gollings-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/fiji-sevens-axe-head-coach-ben-gollings-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Fiji Sevens axe head coach Ben Gollings | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\nSUVA, FIJI:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ben Gollings has been sacked as head coach of the Fijian men’s sevens team, the Fiji Rugby Union said Friday, four months before the side bids for a third straight Olympic gold in Paris.<\/p>\n

Ex-England sevens international Gollings, 43, has been replaced by former Fiji sevens captain Osea Kolinisau, board chairman Peter Mazey told reporters in Suva.<\/p>\n

Kolinisau, 38, takes the reins as head coach having won Olympic gold as a player with Fiji at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.<\/p>\n

Mazey said Fiji rugby bosses parted ways with Gollings “due to his inability to meet the desired standards and expectations set forth by the organisation and within his contract”.<\/p>\n

“In the pursuit of Olympic glory in France, we have to have the best,” Mazey said, with the Paris Games starting on July 26.<\/p>\n

Gollings, appointed Fiji coach in December 2021, was axed with the team still waiting for a tournament win on the World Sevens Series circuit after five rounds this season.<\/p>\n

“We have done a thorough assessment of the performances and it has become obvious and necessary to make strategic adjustments,” Mazey said.<\/p>\n

Gollings’ dedication and efforts had been “commendable”, Mazey said, “but we must prioritise our ultimate goal of securing medals” at the Olympics. A “fresh perspective and expertise” was needed, he added.<\/p>\n

A star of Fijian sevens, Kolinisau captained the team at the 2016 Olympics and to back-to-back World Sevens Series titles in 2015 and 2016.<\/p>\n

Fiji has long excelled at the abbreviated form of the game with slick handling, speed, crunching tackles and a desire to run the ball from anywhere — often ending with outrageous tries.<\/p>\n

They won the men’s Olympic title in 2016 by demolishing Great Britain 43-7 in the final, then again in Tokyo in 2021 by beating New Zealand 27-12 in the gold-medal match.<\/p>\n

Fiji has also won the men’s Rugby World Cup Sevens title four times, most recently in 2022 in South Africa.<\/p>\n

They reached the quarter-finals of the 15-a-side Rugby World Cup last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SUVA, FIJI: Ben Gollings has been sacked as head coach of the Fijian men’s sevens team, the Fiji Rugby Union said Friday, four months before the side bids for a third straight Olympic gold in Paris. Ex-England sevens international Gollings, 43, has been replaced by former Fiji sevens captain Osea Kolinisau, board chairman Peter Mazey […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/Untitled-1-601709902887-0\/Untitled-1-601709902887-0.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t