Grand plan: Ben Ryan is behind a push to put a Super Rugby team into Fiji. Credit:Louie Douvis "You spend time with the players – we all made a lot of sacrifices over the last three years – and you don't want to see it suddenly disappear," Ryan says. "Also, being there for three years, you understand what needs to be done to improve it. I've spent time with the players' association, I understand what the problems are with the guys that go overseas, and I've worked within the Fiji Rugby Union and I understand exactly what's wrong and what's right about it. "Perhaps now, away from Fiji, I can voice all of that. If I don't, I don't think anyone else will. We can just peter along for the next 20 years and Fiji rugby will never improve, or I can get a bit of grief from the FRU and all sorts of things, but I might be able to cause a few things to happen." Ask Ryan what needs to happen and he answers straight away.

Still passionate: Ben Ryan may not be head coach of the Fiji sevens team any more but he still wants to help the island nation's rugby players succeed. Credit:Getty Images "We need a Super Rugby team on the island. Simple as that, really. Stop moaning about losing players and just have our own. That's why people leave, there's no professional team on the island. If there was, the best boys would stay and that would solve 80 per cent of our problems." It isn't the first time he has spoken publicly about the concept. In November he floated the $33 million proposal for a privately-backed franchise to play in a 20,000-seat stadium on the resort island of Denarau, but it generated a quizzical denial from his former employers, the FRU. Ryan, in Sydney this week with sevens world series sponsor HSBC, chuckles at this, then takes his former employer to task. "The FRU have got the best sevens team in the world – back-to-back world champions, Olympic gold medallists, one of the most iconic teams in the world – and they've lost sponsors and they've not paid their players for the first three months," he says. "It shows me they're not fit for purpose to run a team. They need to allow the team to be franchised and commercially operated to make the most of it, and give us a long-term stability." Ryan is spearheading the Super Rugby bid, reportedly with four global companies and two leading kit manufacturers at his back. He admits it has been stalled over access to land on which to build the stadium, but is adamant there is still a groundswell of momentum on the islands to get the concept off the ground. With due respect to World Rugby efforts to halt the player drain from Fiji and its neighbours, Ryan says it is the only way to parlay the country's abundant talent and passion for rugby into something internationally competitive.