Dudley U16 captain sets realistic goal
Dudley High School Under-16 skipper Pio Dakili Naiubi aims to lead his side into its first quarterfinals in the Southern Zone Secondary Schools Rugby Union competition.
They kicked off their first round with a 6-3 win over Suva Muslim College at the Suva Grammar School grounds, last Saturday.
The Naibalebale, Viwa, Yasawa lad was born and bred in his mother’s village in Tau, Nadroga.
He would like to follow into his late cousin’s Nacanieli Narekuva’s footsteps. Narekuva
who was commonly known as Rekwa was part of coach Senirusi Seruvakula’s Fijian Drua side in the 2019 Australian National Rugby Championship (NRC).
“Firstly I want to thank the Almighty God for giving us the strength in our win,” Naiubi said.
“We have accomplished our mission, by winning against Suva Muslim College.
“I want to thank my teammates for the hard work they have put into our win and also the coaches for taking their time to support us.
“It was good to win and it was a tough match. We only trained for three weeks.”
The strong running fullback said some of them were training for athletics as well.
“It was tough handling both training and studies, but we have worked together as a team.
“Our mission is to reach the quarterfinal. In the past years, we have not qualified but this year we want to make it for the first time.
“For me I want to follow Rekwa’s footsetps, but my long term goal is to make it to the national sevens side.”
Naiubi’s close relatives from Tau who were also members the national 7s team include robust winger Simione Saravanua and forward Asaeli Boko.
Competition is on today.