Combine program to boost local rugby players

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The Pacific Islands team training at Buckhurst Park in Suva, on Tues 19 Mar 2019. Picture: ELIKI NUKUTABU

TWENTY-SIX players are currently part of the World Rugby Pacific Combine program which began its first training session today at Buckhurst Park in Suva.

The World Rugby Pacific Combine team program aims at grooming talented Pacific island players for professional contracts overseas.

Team head coach Chris Hickey who is also former NSW Warratahs coach said the program would provide a boost to local players who wanted to further their career in rugby.

“One of the purposes of the combine program is to try and place some of the better players into professional contracts in Australia or New Zealand and then once they are in the full time professional program we hope they develop their skills further.

“We also want to ensure that when they are on professional contracts they would still be able to play test matches for the country, make sure that they are not lost to their country from overseas teams,” said Hickey.

“We will be talking to different professional clubs and also be contacted by them to try and see if we can place players to their clubs because we want these players to be sent to the right environment,” he added.

The team will be playing Namosi at 3pm on Friday at Albert Park in Suva.

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