Gareth Baber: Rugby in Fiji ‘not like any other country’

Editor’s Note:

On the face of it, Gareth Baber has landed a sweet deal – he’s taken over one of the world’s most successful sports teams, and he gets to live on an island paradise.

But things are never simple when you’re the coach of Fiji’s rugby sevens side.

Just ask his predecessor Ben Ryan, who overcame the most inauspicious start to his time in the Pacific Islands and guided the squad to successive Sevens World Series titles and a historic Olympic gold medal.

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“That first week the union went bust and they told me I wasn’t going to get paid for six months,” Ryan recalls of his arrival in 2013.

“My star player hadn’t turned up for training and he was lying on the floor saying that his legs had been cursed and he couldn’t play – which was a new one for me at the time. Then I won the fitness test in the first week and I realized we had a huge amount to do,” he tells CNN’s World Rugby show.

“Those first few days it was like a hailstorm of various things that were happening, but you do enjoy those challenges when your back’s against the wall and you’re trying to find a way, an angle to try to improve things.”

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‘Once in a lifetime’ opportunity

It shouldn’t be quite so chaotic for Baber, but the Welshman is playing catch-up as he had to wait until January to take charge, after leaving his job as coach of Hong Kong’s sevens team.

Without him at the helm, Fiji reached the final of December’s opening leg of the 2016-17 Sevens World Series in Dubai, losing to South Africa, but then bowed out in the Cape Town quarterfinals.

TOPSHOT - Fiji's Leone Nakarawa is tackled in the mens rugby sevens semi-final match between Fiji and Japan during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Deodoro Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on August 11, 2016. / AFP / Pascal GUYOT (Photo credit should read PASCAL GUYOT/AFP/Getty Images)

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“Opportunities like getting to go work in Fiji with that level of talent sometimes only come once in a lifetime, so I’m looking forward to that enormously,” Baber told CNN before taking up the role.

“I’m not going to have a huge rugby strategy as such, but I think my strategy is really getting to know the players themselves and the staff as well.

“They’ve created something very special there without me and they’ve done it with another coach.

“It’s a bit different taking over the team in between tournaments. They’re right in the middle of it, so my strategy is to ensure that they get the best performances they possibly can, and if I can help that quickly then I will.”

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Player issues

One thing Baber aims to sort out quickly is player contracts. Ryan has very publicly highlighted the fact that their deals have not been renewed since August’s Olympics, but the Fiji Rugby Union has stated it will be Baber’s job to deal with it.

The 44-year-old reportedly wants to evaluate the squad and tie the players down ahead of the third leg of the series in Wellington, New Zealand on January 28-29.

“There are things they have as a team and as a group that I’m not going to know about straight off, and that’s what makes them special and makes them Olympic champions,” he says.

“It’ll be my job to uncover what it is that makes them tick. I’ll be speaking with the senior players and the coaching staff as well to gauge exactly what we do moving forward.”

Before taking up his job as Fiji's men's coach, Gareth Baber gave CNN a rugby sevens skills tutorial with the help of the Hong Kong women's team.

Fitness —

"The size of a sevens pitch is no different than a 15s pitch, but obviously you have less players running around," Baber says. "It's a fast game, an intense game, and it's played over a shorter period of time." WATCH FITNESS VIDEO

Fitness —

"What we do in sevens is slightly different in terms of the burst of efforts that we have. It is largely based around the game play." Here South Africa's Blitzboks take part in a training session.

Passing —

"There's more passing than anything else that happens in the game of rugby, and all players in sevens have to be capable of doing it," Baber says. WATCH PASSING VIDEO

Passing —

"In sevens you have to pass effectively whilst traveling at speed over greater distance than you would in 15s," the Welshman adds. "You have to pass the ball backwards to move forwards, which catches a lot of people out." Here Fiji's Semi Kunatani offloads a pass while falling against New Zealand at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Tackling —

"In sevens, games can be won or lost on one or two tackles that are either made or not made," Baber says. WATCH TACKLING VIDEO

Tackling —

"The defender should move forwards all of the time, get in a balanced position as close to the attacker as possible, and then sink from the hips and drop rather than bend to be in a good powerful position to get a shoulder around a hip or thigh area. Wrap the arms and squeeze, which effectively pulls people to the ground," Baber says.

The breakdown —

"If play breaks down, get yourself into a positive position when you hit the floor so that you create an easy opportunity for the second man in, who comes in to support you and forms that ruck," the 44-year-old says.

The breakdown —

"In sevens we tend to look at staying above the ball, protecting the ball whilst engaging in that ruck, that breakdown, so when that ball is presented, we can play away." Here, Australia's Charlotte Caslick starts another cycle of play after her grounded teammates retain possession.

Set pieces —

"These are the lineout, the scrummage and the kickoff -- and all three of those are vitally important," Baber says. "They restart the game. They provide an advantage to the team that starts with possession; the issue is making sure you retain that possession."

The kickoff —

"You're either kicking off because you're starting the game at the beginning and halftime, or after a try, so those areas become vitally important to controlling possession," he says.

The kickoff —

"In sevens if you've got the ball and you control it for long periods of time and stay accurate with your pass, then the defense is generally working harder and that's where the fatigue element starts to set in. So your set piece becomes vitally important." Here players contest a kickoff in a match between the US and Wales.

The scrum —

"The basic principle of scrummaging is to provide a stable and strong platform to ensure that you keep the ball," the coach says.

The scrum —

"Unlike 15s, as a sevens player you don't stay in the scrummage for very long," Baber says. "You have to be out and back into position either to attack or to defend and get more plays in the game."

The lineout —

"You're looking at two lifters plus a jumper, or maybe one jumper of her own with one lifter," Baber says. "We work largely on making sure the timing of the lifters and the jumpers are correct."

The lineout —

"That means the jumpers have to have good power off the floor and good standing jump availability up into the air. The hookers have to very much work on the accuracy of their throw in as well." Pictured is a lineout in an Asian zone Olympic qualification match between Japan and Kazakhstan in 2015.

The sidestep —

"What you're trying to do is pull the defender's weight to one side of the field, one side of their body, with the idea that you're going to step quickly back into the space they've already vacated," Baber says. WATCH LINE BREAKS VIDEO

The sidestep —

"So being quick with your feet is always beneficial, being lighter is beneficial as well -- power ratio is important too," he adds. Here New Zealand's Pita Ahki eludes Fiji's Vatemo Ravouvou at the 2016 Hong Kong Sevens.

Line breaks —

"What generally creates line breaks is pace, and the ability of an individual to spot space and utilize their pace or footwork to get into that space as quickly as possible," Baber says.

Line breaks —

"We work a lot on anticipation, reading what a ball carrier would do. In sevens a missed tackle or a line break is largely what tries come from." Here South Africa's Rosko Specman bursts through Great Britain's defensive line at the 2016 Olympics.

Gareth Baber's rugby skills tips

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Baber says he has talked with Ryan about the challenges he faces in the job.

“One of the things he obviously said was to get around and see the club game. I think I’m going to be blown away by how much sevens is probably played there,” Baber says.

“That’s going to be a huge learning curve for me there, just taking in the information and just realizing the level of sevens rugby that is played. It won’t be like any other country in the world.”

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Baber’s way

Ryan says the former Wales sevens player – who started coaching at club side Cardiff Blues – has “my absolute support.”

“He’s got some of the similar challenges I had as well, and my advice would be keep an open mind about everything, expect curveballs on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis and take advice of some of those senior players like Osea Kolinisau, who’s just an incredible human being, and use them as a resource and then do things his own way,” Ryan says.

“The team’s been very successful, but he’s a good coach and I’m sure he’ll tweak things so he puts his own little style on things and his own leadership.

“We all want to see Fiji do well – I’m not one of those coaches that thinks, ‘Oh you know I want the next one to fail.’ I’m so passionate about the team, I lost my voice in Dubai, screaming for them, so I’m a phone call away from Gareth.

“At the same time I’m sure he’ll want to do his own thing, and he’ll do it.”

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‘Love for the game’

Ryan, who this week landed a new role with the Welsh Rugby Union, says Baber will quickly learn how integral rugby’s shortened format is within Fijian communities.

“I spent half my time laughing in training with the boys, it is one of those amazing environments,” he explains.

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Fiji sevens coach Ben Ryan (C) gestures during the final of the IRB Gold Coast World Series Sevens rugby tournament at the CBUS Super Stadium on the Gold Coast on October 12, 2014. Fiji won 34-31. AFP PHOTO / PATRICK HAMILTON ---IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE--- (Photo credit should read PATRICK HAMILTON/AFP/Getty Images)

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“They’ll be playing games of pick-up touch when they’re not supposed to be doing anything – they’ll be in the villages running around. They love the game.

“Sometimes that’s quite a rare commodity now in modern sport – it’s not seen as a job for them, it’s always about the love of the sport.”

With his distinctive ginger hair, pale skin and glasses, Ryan and his wife became local celebrities in Fiji, having moved across the world from England to start a new life.

Baber has already taken his family from Britain to Hong Kong, and he is looking forward to them joining him in Fiji.

“The challenge for us as a family is their lifestyle in Fiji and how they’ll grow up with it,” he says of his children.

“It’s been hugely positive them coming to Hong Kong. Ultimately as a parent you want them to have all of the exposure they have and the experience they have, and to form themselves as young adults.

“I think it’ll be hugely different to being in Hong Kong, but a huge opportunity for them to test themselves as well.”

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‘What a challenge’

Baber acknowledges it’ll be a big test of his coaching skills, too.

Nine of the triumphant Rio Olympics squad have stayed in Fiji rather than seeking lucrative overseas contracts, and Baber will try to build a team to defend its title at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

“My job is really to live up to that expectation and keep developing Fijian rugby,” he says.

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“They’ve had one process going that ended up as Olympic champions – and what a challenge for me to try to keep them at that level.”