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Fiji Sevens master and head coach, Waisale Serevi, showed that he is a stickler for discipline when he axed his team's most potent weapon, the leading try scorer William Ryder ahead of the decisive final two rounds of the International Rugby Board (IRB) Series in Paris and London.
Fiji head the IRB Sevens standings, 10 points clear of England, their only real challenger for the ***le that New Zealand have won since the series' inception.
Fiji are on 116 points and at 106 England can still catch up with the Pacific Island outfit, but third-placed South Africa (82 points) and New Zealand (60) can only hope to claim tournament ***les - with the series well beyond their reach.
It is with this in mind that it comes as a surprise that Serevi axed his most prized asset.
Ryder was released from a team camp to attend his wedding on condition he returned last Thursday, but he didn't show until Saturday, hours before the team flew out of Fiji for Europe.
"I reminded the players that this is a national team and indiscipline of this sort will no longer be tolerated," Serevi told the Fiji Times. "I told them it's either Ryder goes or I go. He did not honour his part of the bargain.
"It was a difficult decision to make because this is the crucial leg of the series but we've got to draw the line somewhere."
Ryder scored a series-high 33 tries this season, and a second-best 259 points overall. He was among the first Fiji Sevens players given full-time contracts in March.
Fiji has reached all six previous finals in the series this season, and won in South Africa, New Zealand and Singapore.
"It's been six years and we still haven't won the series, we're in a really good position to do that now with just two legs left and I've picked the side which I believe will bring home the IRB Series," Serevi said.
Fiji Sevens master and head coach, Waisale Serevi, showed that he is a stickler for discipline when he axed his team's most potent weapon, the leading try scorer William Ryder ahead of the decisive final two rounds of the International Rugby Board (IRB) Series in Paris and London.
Fiji head the IRB Sevens standings, 10 points clear of England, their only real challenger for the ***le that New Zealand have won since the series' inception.
Fiji are on 116 points and at 106 England can still catch up with the Pacific Island outfit, but third-placed South Africa (82 points) and New Zealand (60) can only hope to claim tournament ***les - with the series well beyond their reach.
It is with this in mind that it comes as a surprise that Serevi axed his most prized asset.
Ryder was released from a team camp to attend his wedding on condition he returned last Thursday, but he didn't show until Saturday, hours before the team flew out of Fiji for Europe.
"I reminded the players that this is a national team and indiscipline of this sort will no longer be tolerated," Serevi told the Fiji Times. "I told them it's either Ryder goes or I go. He did not honour his part of the bargain.
"It was a difficult decision to make because this is the crucial leg of the series but we've got to draw the line somewhere."
Ryder scored a series-high 33 tries this season, and a second-best 259 points overall. He was among the first Fiji Sevens players given full-time contracts in March.
Fiji has reached all six previous finals in the series this season, and won in South Africa, New Zealand and Singapore.
"It's been six years and we still haven't won the series, we're in a really good position to do that now with just two legs left and I've picked the side which I believe will bring home the IRB Series," Serevi said.
