Vodafone Flying Fijians head coach John McKee confirms they will not be getting players from New Zealand and Australia into the Telecom Fijian Warriors side.

The Telecom Fijian Warriors will be marching into camp next week in preparation for the 2016 World Rugby Pacific Rugby Challenge which will hosted in Suva on March 8-21.

McKee believes in the idea of exposing our local players to more competitive tournaments like Super Rugby.

Former Telecom Fijian Warriors winger John Stewart joined the Sunwolves for Super Rugby this year following his performance in the Pacific Rugby Challenge (PRC)  last year.

“For this year, we will concentrate on our local-based players, but from the list of players there is one player coming from Japan,” McKee said.

“We will not get any players from Australia and New Zealand. Last year before the World Cup the Sunwolves team management asked me if I could recommend a few names to be part of Sunwolves team for this Super Rugby season.

“I recommended names including John Stewart and they looked at his form and he has joined them for this new season.

“This is why the Warriors programme is important because it can open up opportunities for our local players.”

McKee strongly believes in exposing more local-based players internationally as a stepping stone into the Vodafone Flying Fijians team.

“If we can get more Fijian players play in Super Rugby level, it will be beneficial for the Flying Fijians moving forward. Players will be marching into camp next week. This is very important for our development pathway.

“We will pick some young players in the squad so for the next couple of years, they can be Flying Fijians,” he said.

The Telecom Fijian Warriors finished as runner-up last year when they were beaten 9 – 17  by the Pampas XV from Argentina in the final.

Edited by Maikeli Seru

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