We hope that the borders are open so we can send more of our players overseas and some teams from Australia come over says Touch Rugby president Tevita Mau.
He made the comment while setting touch rugby’s 2021 plans with the hope that players are given exposure.
Two prominent rugby players that learned and gained a lot of exposures are current Suva fullback Enele Malele and Naitasiri Women’s rugby wing Matelita Tuilevuka
Fijians are known to play any sport that involves a ball so the onus is on the young players to give it a try, we have the physique, skills, and speed.
Speaking to Sun sports he said the elite players were leading the charge in making sure that young players participate.
“Exposure of our elite players to the competition is at the forefront of any administration for any touch nation,” he said.
“For Fiji, we are thankful that NZ Touch is doing some work in that area with us and delivering the Fiji Cup which is now called the Kava cup for the last four years and is rescheduled for November 2021.”
“I’m grateful to the work done by my predecessors and their hardwork.”
Tournament Plans
“Currently, there is some preliminary discussion with Queensland Touch Chairman Gavin Shuker on them sending over some of their regional sides in the opens and youth category for starters and to expand into the seniors in later years. This is part of the plan to expose our national talent to top-flight competition.
“There are also some discussions around reviving the Pacific Cup with where the nations of the Pacific compete against each other. The last I could recall of this competition was held in Samoa in 2005 and Fiji made a clean sweep of the men, women, mix, and the men’s 30’s.
“Referees will be a key link in the revival of this competition as Rhonda Togipau has been very active in keeping us members in the loop of the opportunities that could be explored to keep the sport of touch vibrant in the Pacific.
“Touch rugby Fiji has consultation with its affiliates have drawn up a plan of strengthening local competition and running franchise competition for our affiliates from Youth Opens to the seniors. Due to the restrictions of international travel, this is another way of building the capacity of our players. We are also going to use this platform to expose our referees and the coaches alike especially those that are keen to take up national teams.
“Our Elite competition will be kicking off in March and will run for 3 weeks. Our elite competition format comprises of 4 Men’s Open, 3 Women’s Open, and 2 Boys Youth and 2 Girls Youth. Our Boys Youth sides will be competing with our Men’s Open thus the men’s competion will be having 6 sides, 3 from the Central Eastern and 3 from the West. In the Women’s competition, there will be 5 sides with 2 Women’s Open and a Youth side from the Central Eastern and 1 Woman and 1 Youth from the West.
“We had organized trials in November 2020 to select our elites in both the Central Eastern and West and added outstanding talents that played outstandingly during the season finals in December.”
