Preview: London Sevens
The first round of the 2015-16 Sevens World Series seems like a very, very long time ago.
Sixteen teams descended on Dubai, packed full of new faces to contest the opener under cloudless skies and searing heat. By Saturday evening, Fiji had already made their intentions clear to their rivals:
They will start as they mean to go on.
Nine rounds and three trophy lifts later, Fiji have a consecutive series title within their grasp.
On 166 points, they can wrap up the series by getting through to the Cup quarterfinal at the London Sevens, putting it out of reach of South Africa who sit on 152.
Maths aside, it's been one incredible series for the Fijians who have had three first-place finishes, two second-place finishes and two third-place finishes on the series so far, with their worst result in Cape Town where they won the Plate. Not bad at all.
"It's been a good season for us," said Fiji captain Osea Kolinisau.
"It feels like a long time since the first tournament in Dubai, but we have really tried to build as a team throughout the series and make the people back at home proud."
Pride is certainly something the people back in Fiji can have for their side. Not only have the more experienced heads in the team continued to perform, such as Kolinisau, Isake Katonibau, and both Pio and Jerry Tuwai, but head coach Ben Ryan has also blooded new talent into the side such as Masivesi Dakuwaqa and more recently Josua Tuisova.
"We are very lucky to have so many good players. Ben is always trying to find and help young players from back in Fiji who can come and help take the team to that next level," said Kolinisau.
"Players like Josua [Tuisova] have been really effective and even having [Samisoni] Viriviri recently in Paris was a great boost for the team. It's important that we continue to build our team for the future and Ben has been very good at doing that with us."
It's difficult to pick out "high points" for a team such as Fiji, purely based on the fact that they seem to have so many. Wins in Dubai, Las Vegas and Hong Kong certainly got them the points they needed to be in pole position heading into the London Sevens but the win with added meaning was Las Vegas in the eyes of Kolinisau, following the tragic cyclone that hit the Fiji ahead of the tournament,
"Winning in Las Vegas meant a lot to us as a team," said Kolinisau.
"We wanted to bring hope to the country and our fans, which we did with that win. I reminded the boys that week that we needed to remember the people back home who were victims of Cyclone Winston and that we needed to give them something to be happy about after all the devastation."
Fiji have arguably been the most exciting team to watch on the 2015/16 Sevens World Series this year with incredible attacking play typified by offloads and support lines that would inspire any young fans. The Tuwai offloads in Dubai, Kitione Taliga's cutting attacking play in Hong Kong and Jasa Veremalua's ability to keep the ball glued to his hand have been a few of the highlights. But with one round left can we expect big things in London?
"We are almost there but need to keep focused on the tournament and getting the job done," said Kolinisau.
"We have had plenty of good times on the series and hopefully we can win in London and have a few celebrations afterwards. It would be an amazing feeling to win again."
The Springbok Sevens captain Philip Snyman said the BlitzBoks are determined to end the season on a positive note at Twickenham this weekend.
"We have played some good Sevens rugby this season," Snyman said.
"We only won once in Cape Town and played in a couple of other finals, but are not content with that.
"The season was also one of near-misses for us coming desperately short on a couple of occasions and we owe it to ourselves and our supporters to fix that.
"We want to finish strong, not only because it will reward the hard work put in over this year, but also because we want to make the country and our supporters proud," Snyman added.
"Our management also deserve a solid performance from our side as they have really worked hard to get us fit and competitive this year."
The Springbok Sevens are grouped with Samoa, Canada and the United States in Pool A in London.
"It is not an easy pool," said Snyman, who will be playing in his 37th tournament.
"In fact, it is a very tough pool. Samoa beat us in Paris last weekend and is really building up nicely towards their Olympic Games qualifiers.
"The same with Canada, who must also still qualify for the Olympics and is getting better and better. The United States is also a very dangerous team with lots of speed, but also a very physical team that is hard to beat.
"We love playing at Twickenham. It is a place steeped in history and a wonderful facility and we are keen to do well here. We are working on those small issues that tripped us up in France and will do our best come this weekend.
"We need to be a bit more aggressive in the rucks and our kick-offs needs a bit of detail, so we worked to fix that this week. But we also played some very good Sevens for most of the time this year, so is keen to showcase that type of form."
Pools
Pool A: Samoa, South Africa, United States, Canada
Pool B: Fiji, Australia, England, Wales
Pool C: France, Kenya, Scotland, Portugal
Pool D: Argentina, New Zealand, Russia, Brazil
Schedule
(Kick-off is local - GMT plus one hour)
Saturday, May 21
France v Scotland - 09.30
Kenya v Portugal - 09.52
Samoa v United States - 10.14
South Africa v Canada - 10.36
Argentina v Russia - 10.58
New Zealand v Brazil - 11.20
Australia v Wales - 11.42
Fiji v England - 12.04'
France v Portugal - 12.36
Kenya v Scotland - 12.58
Samoa v Canada - 13.20
South Africa v United States - 13.42
Argentina v Brazil - 14.04
New Zealand v Russia - 14.26
Fiji v Wales - 14.48
Australia v England - 15.10
Scotland v Portugal - 15.42
France v Kenya - 16.04
United States v Canada - 16.26
Samoa v South Africa - 16.48
Russia v Brazil - 17.10
Argentina v New Zealand - 17.32
Fiji v Australia - 17.54
England v Wales - 18.16
Sources. @worldrugby7s & @BlitzBoks