Striders to strike

BEING one of the women’s teams to compete in this weekend’s McDonald’s Fiji’s Coral Coast Sevens is something the Striders Women’s Rugby Club take pride in.

The side has been playing in the annual tournament since its inception.

This will be the eighth year of playing in the event at Lawaqa Park in Sigatoka.

Team manager Akisi Rabulimasei said they aimed to give their opponents tough competitions.

“We are looking to improve our ranking and most importantly expose our players,” Rabulimasei said.

“We are proudly the only team to have competed in every Coral Coast 7s tournaments since its inception. We have never missed a tournament and have won at every category slowly climbing up the ranks from bowl, plate to being the first local team to win the women’s title in the 2018 Coral Coast Sevens.”

The team lost in the quarter-finals last year and hopes to do better this weekend.

“We had a lot of weaknesses because of lack of experience as our 2019 team comprised our younger and new players. We went in as underdogs. We lost at the quarterfinals at the 2019 games so we are obviously going to improve this year.”

With majority of the members of the club being part of the Fijiana XVs and the Fijiana U18 squads, the 7s team has had a slow start in its preparation.

“We had a slow start compared to the 2019 preparations because our girls were committed to the Fijiana XVs team last November and some members of our Baby Striders team were selected into the Fijiana U18 squad which participated in New Zealand during the Condor7s last December coupled with the festive season activities.”

The Striders women’s team is pooled with Rugby Vault Intern, Nadi Blazers and Sydney Savusavu.

The McDonald’s Fiji’s Coral Coast 7s kicks off today at Lawaqa Park, Sigatoka.