Navosa schoolboys team up for Tuburua 7s
The Sevanaia Sanele captained Tuburua Youth side is not leaving any stones unturned as they debut in the McDonalds Fiji Coral Coast 7s 2023 at Lawaqa Park in Sigatoka today. Team executive Akuila Madua said the young side from Nadroga in the districts (tikina) of Namataku, Nasikawa, Noikoro and Tabanivono
have been preparing well for the tournament.
“The objective is to expose the boys to this level of competition, an opportunity for them to display their talents,” Madua said.
“These are young school boys on their school break, they attend Ratu Kadavulevu School, Cuvu College, Nasinu Secondary, and other Nadroga schools.
“They have organised things themselves, we have come in to guide and assist them.”
The side is in Pool C with AJ Pallets Ba River, Aussie Youth, and First Light Taveuni.
“We are happy with the teams in our pool, as we are playing top teams who have played in many rugby tournaments here and abroad. We want to be on the same page,” he said.
Like Tuburua, the AJ Pallets Ba River side is also gunning for a win. Coach Josefa Vunisa said their preparation for the Coral Coast 7s has not been easy; as the recent weather changes have not been fair for them.
“Heavy downpours brought floods to Ba including our school grounds which is the only place we can train on,” Vunisa said.
He said while flooding was not new to the players, some players have had to cross flooded roads and river to get to the training site.
“We value the welfare of our players.
We have been encouraging the players to organise their trainings in own villages; once or twice a week we would meet together just to iron out a few of our game plans and combinations.”
The side is made up of players from Nailaga, Sorokoba, Natalecake, Koroqaqa and also from Naitasiri and Ra.
“It’s not an easy pool but we expect tough competition.
Only the pool winner and runnersup qualify to the quarter finals,” he said.