Baber wants one last look at Botitu
Vilimoni Botitu will be closely monitored by Fijian men’s head coach Gareth Baber during next weekend’s PacificAust Sports Oceania Sevens competition in Townsville, Australia.
Fiji Rugby Union chief executive officer John O’Connor yesterday said that Botitu and Tuimaba are coming out of their Sydney quarantine next Tuesday and will catch a flight to Townsville to join the team.
Botitu has not played sevens rugby for over a year but has been playing well for Castres in the French Top 14 competition.
He recently re-signed his contract for the club.
The concern is that Botitu, Tuimaba and Semi Radradra need time to adapt to the pace of the sevens rugby which is much faster when compared to fifteens.
Before the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, all the overseas-based players had spent three months in camp before going over.
However, due to the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic it has disrupted our preparations.
“Gareth wanted to have another look at Botitu before making his call in finalising the Olympic Games squad,” O’Connor said.
Botitu has already been named in the 33-member Flying Fijians squad to play the All Blacks in a two Test series on July 10 and 17.
If he fails to impress Baber, then Botitu will fly across to Christchurch, New Zealand to join the Flying Fijians squad.
But if he makes the final cut for the Tokyo Olympics, O’Connor said, they have already have him covered in the squad.
“Actually, we were supposed to have a 31-member squad but we opted for 33 to accomodate situation like this,” he added.
Out of quarrantine
Meanwhile, the Fijian men’s and women’s 7s teams completed their 14-day quarantine at the Shelly’s Place at Sunshine Coast in Australia, yesterday.
O’Connor confirmed that the teams have moved out of the quarantine facility and are going to spend three days in Brisbane.
“Next Tuesday, they are travelling to Townsville to prepare for the Oceania competition,” he said.
After the teams came out of the facility, they had a tough scrimmage session in Brisbane.