Fijiana home – Seruvakula plans ahead for RWC battle

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Members of the Fijiana Drua side with Rooster Chicken staff members at the Nadi International Airport last night. Picture: BALJEET SINGH

The Fijiana XV will need to step up in a bid to do well at the upcoming Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

The Senirusi Seruvakula-coached side lost to Japan 14-28 and then went down to Australia 39-21 in the recent Test matches which served as preparation for the pinnacle event.

Both Japan and Australia are ranked higher in the women’s rugby full code.

Fiji is ranked 21st while Australia is ranked 5th while Japan is ranked 12th.

Majority of the players in the national team were part of the Fijiana Drua team that participated in the Super W for the first time in Australia this year.

The Fijiana Drua capped the competition on a high note defeating the defending champions New South Wales Waratahs 32-26 in the final in Melbourne.

Fijiana Drua coach Seruvakula said it was a long time for the team to be away playing in a top level competition.

Seruvakula said there were a lot of learnings for the players participating in the Super W competition.

“It was a good experience for the players. There were two goals going into the competition. It was to try and win and then gauge our standard. This is work on our mistakes.”

Fiji pulled out of the RWC in 2010 and was eliminated from the qualifiers of the 2017 tournament.

Seruvakula said they would also be looking at players participating in the Skipper Cup for the RWC. He said the players in the Fijiana Drua squad were not guaranteed a spot in the Fiji team for the RWC. “The door to the RWC I want to take the best players,” Seruvakula said.

“Many of the players in the Fijian Drua team only started to play rugby a few years ago.”

The RWC will be played in New Zealand from October 8 to November 12. Fijiana is grouped in Pool C with world number one England, France and South Africa.

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