'No place like Fiji' Vuniwaqa Bola-Bari Tuesday, August 30, 2016

THERE is no place like Fiji to pioneer Olympic gold medal winning rugby 7s coach- Ben Ryan. The knowledge of the Fijian people in the game of rugby is one that amazes coach Ryan.

Ben Ryan receives the official documents for the land which was gifted to him by Ratu Kini Vatuwaliwali during the celebration at the Uprising Beach Resort grounds in Serua yesterday. Picture: SOPHIE RALULU

Talking about his experiences yesterday at the celebrations in Serua at the Uprising Beach Resort, Ryan said unlike overseas teams where they had analysts and had resources to help them read a game, Fiji had talent in abundance where his team were his resources.

He said in England, before a tour and a sight of a new face watching their training, would make them think that the person could be a spy.

"Maybe Gordon sent someone again, check his phone see if his had any videos, and you would get paranoid," Ryan said.

And for the NZ Coach Gordon Tietjens, he would get overly suspicious if there wasn't any mash potatoes in the hotel for his players and would feel as, so if the world was against them.

However when Ryan started to coach Fiji in 2013, he saw the difference.

"For us, we have all our Fijians that live abroad come to say hello and say hello back and thank them, when we here, we had 100s of people watching us, 100s of people that know their rugby, 100s of people that comment on selection, 100s of people that look at the combination."

He said even if he's in the garage talking to a Fijian, their topic would be on rugby.

"I'll get a taxi from here to Galoa, to visit Donasio Ratubuli and we'll talk about which teams we should select and which combination the knowledge on this island is amazing and as I've said before, we have no analysts and computers because I have 12 mighty computers, they're the boys that play in our team, they have more knowledge than me, and the Fijian people are more knowledgeable about the game of rugby than any other people on the planet."

Source: The Fiji Times