Rugby-Fiji sevens side riding 'golden age' to Rio

By Nick Mulvenney SYDNEY, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Fiji lost a tight semi-final to New Zealand in the inaugural Sydney Sevens on Sunday but the mission to secure the Pacific island nation a first Olympic medal later this year remains firmly on course. In 12 Summer Olympics, Fiji has not earned a solitary entry on the medals table but the return of rugby in its truncated form at Rio de Janeiro in August has awakened expectations that the long barren spell is about to come to an end. English coach Ben Ryan has assembled a squad packed with the traditional Fijian rugby qualities of pace, power and skill and last year they won the World Sevens Series for the second time. Second in the standings this year going into Sydney, their 26-12 victory over pacesetters South Africa in the third place playoff on Sunday put them back on top on points difference and eased some of the pain of their loss to the All Blacks. "That's only the sixth game we've lost in 55," Ryan told Reuters. "We still have an outstanding win-loss record. That's New Zealand with World Cup winners and full All Blacks in their ranks. "Barring Semi (Kunatani), our boys are all from the islands. We have under-cooked them from a fitness point of view, they'll be a lot faster and fitter come Rio. The big picture's there. "There's plenty of sunshine ahead." The sunshine shone on the Sydney Football Stadium for both days of the fourth leg of the 10-stop championship and a bumper crowd of 73,313 enjoyed it to the full. According to the 2011 census, nearly 50,000 Australians were born in Fiji and at times it looked like a large proportion of them had turned up to cheer on the nation of their birth. "It was awesome," Ryan said. "Even in the warm-ups, we've had people singing the national anthem and flying the national flag." Victories over Samoa, France and Argentina took Fiji unbeaten through day one and a 28-12 win over Kenya on Sunday booked them a semi-final meeting with New Zealand. The All Blacks took a 14-0 lead but tries from Vatemo Ravouvou and Isake Katonibau brought Fiji to within two points and they were pushing for a winning score when they were penalised as the final seconds ticked away. "Today was a very good contest, it too-ed and fro-ed," Ryan said. "New Zealand are a very classy outfit, so are we, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. "(But) we go back to number one in the world, that was always our aim at the end of Sydney, being head of the series." Remarkably after their recent success, Ryan said one of the biggest challenges for the players was dealing with "lop-sided expectations" and "character assassinations" in the local social and traditional media. Even if that might mean they are used to the pressure when it ramps up for Rio, Ryan is clearly exasperated by the unfairness of some of the criticism. "We have got a half decent side here," he said with typical English understatement. "It's one of the best Fijian sevens sides we've ever had. "We've set records for the biggest winning runs, we're the second side to win the world title. "It's a golden period for Fiji (but) none of us are getting carried away with it, we just want to work hard." (Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)