ANY team that wants to beat Nadroga and take the Farebrother-Sullivan Trophy away will have to enter Lawaqa Park with a standard of fitness that is equal or better the champions.
That's the view of former Nadroga and Flying Fijians wing Aisea Tuilevu as he summed up another Farebrother challenge encounter between the title holders and Northland yesterday.
Tuilevu said the remaining challengers would not only have to be fitter than Nadroga but they also needed to disrupt the set pieces and the most important thing is to be able to play until the last whistle.
"If not than we will continue to see big scores just like we have experienced in the first two challenges," Tuilevu said.
"As usual there's always a lot of talk before teams come to the Farebrother challenge in Sigatoka but what these teams don't know that Nadroga has been preparing its team since the start of the season.
"So you can't just come to camp and train for two or three weeks and expect to beat Nadroga."
Tuilevu said a very good example was the very powerful start by Northland yesterday.
"They (Northland) scored a try just after Nadroga had scored the first try and managed to hold the Stallions to a very close 13-5 lead at halftime.
"But as Nadroga started to lift its performance in the second half, Northland just could not cope and the champions ran away with another big scoreline," Tuilevu said.
Nadroga won the game 32-5.
Tuilevu says he hopes the remaining challengers will come better prepared and will be able to give the champions a tough game.
Next in line in the Farebrother challenge is Nadi next Saturday.
Nadi will be followed by Suva, Naitasiri while Lautoka will be last to face the champions.