‘Seni’ gets the call

SECOND ROUND OF INTERVIEW FOR SERUVAKULA

ACTING Flying Fijians coach Senirusi Seruvakula will undergo a second round of interview at the Fiji Rugby Union headquarters in Suva today at 9am.

This was according to a source at the Rugby House. Seruvakula, who was initially not on the short-list, went for his first interview last Friday at 10.30am.

Serevuvakula received an email last Thursday stating his application was not successful, however, two hours later he got another email that saw him back as one of the five shortlisted candidates.

The blunder was described as a “misunderstanding”.

Now, the Super W winning coach is confirmed to have progressed to the next process of interviews as the FRU is expected to name the new coach by mid this month.

FRU general manager highperformance Barrie-Jon Mather had initially stated, “The plan is to do a second round of interviews with maybe two of the successful candidates.”

Ever since the selection blunder surfaced, major provincial unions such as Suva Rugby and Naitasiri Rugby have shown their backing towards having a local coach lead the Flying Fijians.

Former Fiji representative Vilimoni Delasau, who is now the Ba Rugby head coach, was the latest to sound his support for having a home-grown head coach.

Seruvakula was the understudy of former Flying Fijians coaches John McKee and Vern Cotter.

The interview panel is believed to be Youth and Sports permanent secretary Rovereto Nayacalevu, FRU interim board chair Peter Mazey, FRU elite pathway and performance manager Bill Gadolo, Mather, former Fiji head coach and World Rugby high-performance pathways and player development manager Simon Raiwalui and World Rugby rep Mike McGovern.