NRFF sevens coach, Fabian Juries has hailed the present talents in the team as they intensify training towards their participation in African sevens championship in Harare, Zimbabwe on the 29th and 30th of November 2014.
Speaking earlier today during their early morning training session inside the Mainbowl of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, the soft spoken coach said, “I think there are couple of good guys in the team, but I believe that there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of putting adequate structures in place to complement the quality players on ground, the team posses powerful and fast athletes which makes up for a good balance between their size, speed and strength.”
The South African Rugby legend who is ranked number 4 try scorer in Seven series in the world cautioned that there are still more work to be done to turn the players into finished products, hence instant success must not be expected from the team because it can put unnecessary pressure on them which is not good ahead of any tournament.
He noted that with countries like South Africa and Kenya also expected at the tournament, there is a need for patience from the federation and also rugby enthusiasts.
“Speaking realistically, we have a lot of quality teams such as South Africa, Kenya that are going to be coming for the tournament, they are world class team and some of their players have already played on the IRB/HSBC Sevens Circuit.” “So if we get to the quarter finals or the semifinals maybe that will be a great achievement.”
Juries who will be taking charge of a senior national team for the first time boasted that he’s not just in Nigeria to pass time or for excursion but on a serious mission to write his name in the sand of time in rugby history in the most populous black nation in the world.
“I played Sevens for a while before turning to coaching, I think I bring a bit of experience from what I have learnt over the years playing sevens rugby”
He advised that for the sport to grow as expected, it is important to start at the grass root level and have structures in primary schools, secondary schools and tertiary institutions.
“When you have those talents coming through primary and secondary schools which provides you a big pool of players that you can pick from, it makes the job easier.”
Juries was quick to reassure the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation that despite the fact that at the moment, there are few rugby athletes in Nigeria, which makes it imperative to start from the scratch, he will still improvise till when all the necessary factors will be in place for a good working environment.
“Although, it is kind of difficult but we will have to work with what we on groundt and make the best of it. So we just need to improvise and work hard which will ultimately take you to the top which is one of my core beliefs in life.”
He also commended the NRFF for their commitment despite the limited resources in their disposal.
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