RENOWNED for producing Fijian football stars, the youths of Nailaga, Ba, have opted for rugby 7s as a way to secure a better future.
Nailaga is well known in the football arena and now some of their young men are playing rugby.
For the past two years, the Nailaga under-19 rugby 7s team has been playing in the annual Coral Coast U19s 7s competition.
Laced with village boys attending schools in Fiji, the side featured at this week’s Cuvu Collegian Rugby 7s Festival in Sigatoka.
Head coach Josua Tuwai said rugby had opened new doors of opportunity for most young players.
“Nailaga is known for football, but these young boys have made a decision to pursue rugby,” said Tuwai.
He said the success of Fiji 7s and 15s reps Josua Tuisova, Pio Tuwai,Waisea Nacuqu and Vilimone Delasau inspired the young men of the village to play rugby.
“Tuisova, Nacuqu and Tuwai are from Nailaga district and if they can represent the country in 7s, some of these boys can do the same. All these boys are from Nailaga and some of them attended schools such as Ratu Kadavulevu, Natabua High and Ba Methodist High School.
“They are eager to make their mark in rugby and participating at this tournament will help them improve their skills.
“We will be using this tournament to expose our talents and build up to next month’s Coral Coast 7s.”
