Time to deliver: Fiji ready to push for Olympic rugby sevens gold

Years of meticulous planning and traversing the globe winning back-to-back World Rugby Sevens Series titles had coach Ben Ryan prepared for just about anything when he revealed his Fiji squad for the Olympics.

One thing he couldn’t guarantee was the reaction of the players who missed out, a response he now regards as the measure of the team.

“One by one, they came in and one by one I told them their fate and to a man they were outstanding in the way they took their news,” Ryan recalled. “If they weren’t selected they thanked us, they shook our hands and they left with their heads held high.”

It proved once and for all, in case there was even a tiny doubt in Ryan’s mind, that the squad he’s been honing for Rio de Janeiro is way, way bigger than any individual – this group of players is what Fijians everywhere refer to as the “people’s team”.

And the people have high expectations. Fijians have competed in the Olympics since 1956, but have never won a medal. They’ve never had a chance until now, though, to contest their national sport at the Summer Games.

“It is fair to say, Fiji is close to meltdown with Rio fever,” Ryan told this week.

“It is always an obsession on the island to follow the team but it has gone to a new level with the Olympics. Hundreds have lined the training pitch to watch us.”

Since moving from England in 2013, Ryan has harnessed the passion Fijians have for their kind of football, reinforcing the bonds between the game and the people in a Pacific island nation which has become too familiar with seeing its best rugby talent move abroad seeking opportunities.