• • Facebook
  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • Reddit
  • Stumble Upon
  • Furl

Fiji star William Ryder has thanked coach Iliesa Tanivula for giving him a chance to resurrect his sevens career.

Ryder has proved a revelation on his return to the IRB Sevens World Series and is currently leading the points scorer with 107 points.

The Bua man has been used in a ‘rover’ position thus far in Dubai and George by Tanivula and its yielded 11 tries behind only New Zealand’s Sherwin Stowers (15) and Kenya’s Collins Injera (12).

The 27-year-old has admitted that he wasn’t expecting a try-spree from the first two legs and that his major aim was to reach peak fitness.

"I wasn't really thinking about scoring a lot of tries when I was given the nod in the Fiji team," Ryder said.
"This is because I was working on my fitness. However, on the field I realised that my fitness was getting better.

"And that's why I scored a lot of tries. I just thank the coach and the trainer for helping me back into the abbreviated code. Up until recently, my focus was in the 15s game. Like as I said before, I'm happy of coming back into the sevens frame."

Upon Ryder’s return Japan’s Toyota Verblitz side he has had to shed weight and ahere to a strict regime set out by Tanivula.

"I'm looking forward for the next training camp that will start after Christmas," Ryder said.

"The coach has shifted me from playmaker to rover. I'm happy to play in any position. I like this coach. He is good and is helping me rebuild my sevens career. I have a lot to give in the remaining tournaments."

Fiji travel to Wellington (5-6 Feb) next where they will meet Australia, Scotland and Papua New Guinea who are now under the stewardship of former Fijian great Waisale Serevi.

Meanwhile Tanivula has admitted that his side fell slightly short of their goal in the first two legs, despite making a Cup Semi-Final (Dubai) and Final (George).

"We had aimed higher and it was to get into the finals of both tournaments," said Tanivula said.

"But we have learnt something from there. We did not get some things right. So hopefully we can improve. The boys have set a bench mark for themselves. I guess we have to come back and regroup and sort of train smart and try and go back and do better than what we have achieved."

"We committed too many mistakes. In the analysis after the game we had a higher error rate than New Zealand. This is what made the difference. We did not take our opportunities.

"We have talked about this and it is something that we have to learn from and hopefully by the next tournament we could get it right."