NIKO Qoro has been promoted to the position of Lautoka rugby team head coach following an executive meeting on Tuesday.
He takes over from Viliame Satala who has been demoted to assistant coach, a position which was held by Qoro.
A decision to swap the roles of the two former players was made after a post-mortem on Lautoka’s miserable outing last season. The Maroons finished in seventh position in the Digicel Cup (now Vodafone Cup) and was thrashed 23-0 by Suva in the first Farebrother Sullivan trophy match.
Union secretary Salesi Vulakoro said an investigation was carried out after Lautoka’s loss to Suva which warranted a change in the coaching roles.
Vulakoro said a 10s knockout tournament would be held at the Nadovu Park this Saturday.
“The selectors will be scouting for players during the tournament,” he said.
“We are expecting more than 30 teams. Only the Lautoka clubs will participate in this tournament.”
Satala replaced Isireli Bulicokocoko as head coach in July 2012.
Nicknamed “The Stretcher”, Satala earned 29 Test caps from 1999 to 2005.
Efforts to get comments from Satala proved futile yesterday.
