Olympics-Rugby-Fiji trying not to relax in quest for Rio gold

By Mark Bendeich RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Other rugby sevens teams at Rio talk about staying relaxed, of trying not to put too much pressure on themselves. Not Fiji. In the tiny Pacific island nation, where mornings start with a run along the beach, lunch is washed down with fresh coconut water and afternoons can be spent snoozing in a hammock, staying relaxed is not a goal. It's a trap. "We need pressure," says Fiji's red-headed British coach, Ben Ryan, who left the grey skies of England three years ago to take up his new role in paradise, where he has been enjoying the pleasures -- and taking note of the pitfalls -- of island life. "The island life is a nice, chilled, laid-back one and if we are too easy-going, then the boys just drop off... We are embracing that pressure at the moment -- the more the better." They tell themselves in team meetings that they have no excuses not to perform at the highest level in their quest for Fiji's first-ever Olympic gold medal, and they know their villages are waiting up in the early hours to watch them on TV. If that was not enough pressure, their prime minister is watching every game from the stands and like all rugby-mad Fijians, Frank Bainimarama knows the finer points of the game. "There are 12 teams and there's one with their head of state here," Ryan said, acutely aware that there is no hiding a poor performance from the retired rear admiral. "I could talk to him about why we had a two-man lineout in defence and he'll give me some rugby knowledge. It's great." World Series champions Fiji won through to the semi-finals of the inaugural Olympic sevens tournament on Wednesday, sending their biggest rivals, 12-times world series champions New Zealand, back home. They now face Japan on Thursday for the right to play in the final, against either Britain or South Africa. Fiji have never won an Olympic medal of any colour, but coach Ryan says they will not settle for anything less than gold. "We've got one aim and that's to win gold medal, not silver or bronze," he said after their 12-7 victory over New Zealand, happy to keep piling on the pressure. "Sometimes it's dangerous to set out outcome goals as a coach. But we're number one in the world, we're not trying to be arrogant, we're saying this is what we want. Silver will be a disappointment as will bronze and fourth place." (Editing by John O'Brien)