Indonesian 7s team here to learn

The Manda Siregar captained- Indonesian rugby sevens team are in the country to step-up their preparation for the 2017 Southeast Asian Games set for August 19-20 in Malaysia.

Team manager Tito Vau said for the first time their national sevens team have finally visited Fiji.

“This is incredibly important for us since this is a the mecca of rugby sevens in the world,” Vau said.

“Fiji is an inspiration not only to Indonesia but the rugby community all over the world so we are here wanting to absorb some of the Fijian rugby spirit.”

This move is part of the Fiji– Indonesia G2G MOU Corporation, which was signed few years ago- they have sent few badminton coaches before and the co-operation now goes both ways.

“Since 2004 our rugby has developed then we got organised and focused on sevens. We have a population of 250 million where rugby is still small compared to Fiji.

“It seems like you’ve a small population but you managed to absorb rugby naturally and you play it every day.

“You are blessed with the sevens culture. We don’t know what it is but we want it too so I think it is important to come this far.”

The team of 11 players and five officials arrived into the country on Monday with the objective to work continuously with the Fiji Rugby Union and also with Government.

The team will play their first friendly match in Nadi today before they move to Suva to play a few local teams.

The team return on Sunday.