NZ tour was a success: O’Connor
The Fiji Rugby Union has thanked the players, management, their families, fans, sponsors and partners – for their support of the Flying Fijians’ tour of New Zealand.
“Organising such a tour in the midst of COVID-19 was challenging and expensive to say the least,” said Fiji Rugby chief executive officer John O’Connor.
“Our sincerest gratitude goes out to all the players, coaches, technical and support staff for their commitment and sacrifice in leaving their families behind and agreeing to head to New Zealand.
“We thank Rugby New Zealand for their tremendous support to the team and to Fiji Rugby.
“We are also very thankful all our loyal sponsors, partners and all our stakeholders for their support to our team during the tour. This includes all our staff at Rugby House who worked tirelessly to provide all logistical and other support needed by the Flying Fijians.”
O’Connor said their gratitude also goes to the fans.
“We thank them for their support of the team for the two matches against the All Blacks. Against the backdrop of the current COVID situation in Fiji, we hope the performance of the Flying Fijians brought a little respite to our people.
“The tour provides the perfect foundation for Fiji Rugby to build an extremely competitive Flying Fijians squad capable of challenging Tier 1 nations at the 2023 World Cup.
‘The world has seen what we are capable of in the two matches against the All Blacks.
“We have taken onboard all the learnings and lessons from the tour, which, alongside the commitment of our rugby family and the invaluable support of our sponsors and partners, will help us achieve our RWC 2023 objectives.”
O’Connor also clarified media reports in New Zealand pertaining to issue of the Flying Fijians’ jerseys, confirming that there has been no loss to FRU by the Team not displaying the “Vaccinate Fiji”, it’s your choice” message in the second test.
He explained how the situation changed after the announcement last Wednesday.
“Fiji Rugby and our partners had a further review of the situation on Friday before the second Test, after taking into consideration the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases in Fiji. New cases crossed 1220 and 1405 on Thursday and Friday respectively, with increasing hospitalisations and tragic loss of lives. By late Friday, it was increasingly clear that the COVID-crisis in Fiji has reached the stage where adequate vaccination was critically required to save lives, and anything less than a strong vaccination message would be unhelpful in the present situation.
“After these extensive consultations with all stakeholders, partners, sponsors and the Team, it was determined that the Flying Fijians would play with generic jerseys with sponsor logos only.”
The CEO stated that Fiji Rugby was sincerely thankful to everyone for their support and understanding on the matter.
“To be clear, the FRU had never wavered from its support for Fiji’s vaccination programme. While the initiative to have the strong “Vaccinate Fiji” message on the playing jersey ultimately couldn’t eventuate despite our best intentions.
FRU will continue to support the country’s vaccinate campaign at every opportunity. It is our biggest hope for a return to some form of normalcy.
“We encourage our rugby players, affiliates, unions to get behind the vaccination efforts to help Fiji emerge from the current COVID-crisis, which will bring rugby back to our communities, schools and stadiums.”