Suva ready to defend title
IT’S another big year for Suva rugby as they brace to defend their Skipper Cup title against 10 other teams.
With new blood coming in to represent the Capital City side, only five are senior players.
Majority of their senior players are away for employment duties, others have gone for overseas contracts while Police players will not be able to compete because of the new ruling by acting commissioner Juki Fong Chew.
Captain Enele Malele said they had to fill the void left by those who had left.
“We’ve been training for the past two months but it has not been up to par because most of our experienced players have moved on,” Malele said.
“As we all know our players in the Fiji Police Force won’t be involved in sports, but we are thankful because it has opened the doors for the younger ones to come through.
“We must thank the High Performance Unit for training these young ones because they have quickly gelled in well with us. Rugby is not new to them; it’s just they have to get used to this level.
“This is also a good development move because we get to expose our young players early to the intensity of the Skipper Cup. This will also ensure that when the senior players leave, we have capable replacements that can do the job.”
The defending champions will face Ba in its opening match on Saturday.
“We’ll play more games this season because of the increase in the number of teams but our strength and conditioning coaches will be on top of that.
“We have Ba this weekend and we will treat every single game as a final. Calling on Suva fans to come out in numbers and support your Skipper champs,” Malele added.
Saturday’s match will kick off at 3pm at Bidesi Park in Laucala Bay, Suva.
The younger boys are up for the challenge, they have raised their hands to represent Lautoka and we will ensure to give our best,
– Patrick Tuimereke