WINNING the Farebrother-Sullivan Trophy is the outcome of hard work throughout the season but the new champions will now have the tough job of trying to retain it.
That’s the view of Fiji Bitter Suva coach Salimoni Ravouvou as he looks ahead to the first defence of the coveted silverware next weekend.
The Suva side yesterday managed to dethrone defending champions Nadroga 20-17 in a thrilling encounter at Churchill Park in Lautoka.
Ravouvou said they now have to lift their performance to try and retain the title when they face Naitasiri.
Ravouvou said while he was happy with the win, he believed they still had many areas to improve on.
“There is still a lot of room to improve and we have to work together as a team to achieve this,” Ravouvou said.
“We now have a very big game in front of us when we defend the title for the first time next week.
“We know Naitasiri is not an easy team to play and we will have to iron out all our mistakes for us to play a better game next week.
“While it was a sweet victory for us we now have to focus on our next game.”
Suva played without some key players in yesterday’s game but Ravouvou said these players were still members of their squad and may be included in the next game.
Former Suva captain Ilitomasi Nawalu, Luke Nakobukobua and Waqabaca Kotobalavu all missed out due to personal commitments but Ravouvou said they were still part of the team.
“We missed some of our key players but they still can be included in the team for our first defence because they had been training with us throughout the week.”