The Telecom Fijian Warriors, Samoa and Tonga rugby sides are focussing on a development pathway for upcoming 2016 Pacific Rugby Challenge.

Fiji will host the PRC from March 8 to March 21 at the ANZ Stadium.

Telecom Fijian Warriors head coach Senirusi Seruvakula confirmed this to SUNsports.

He said that they had changed the selection criteria this year as they focus on local players and a development pathway to the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

“This year our selection criteria have changed. We are looking at age groups between 21-26 years of age,” Seruvakula said.

“Majority of our players we have selected in the squad fall in this age category.

“The main reason for this is for players to be in good form for the 2019 Rugby World Cup,” Seruvakula said.

Seruvakula said they had limited time to prepare last year but managed to have good games and finish as runners up.

But this year’s competition would be a competitive on for our Pacific rivals, Samoa and Tonga.

“The competition will be tough and this will be a good opportunity for our local players to showcase their talents,” he added.

Samoa talks development

Samoa Rugby coach Alama Ieremia also confirmed to SUNsports on ruling out overseas-based players in his squad.

“My approach to the PRC has to be a decent development team,” Ieremia said.

“We’ve had no rugby at home since the RWC and we did not have the position to the pick players. But we’ll need to put a team together for the PRC.”

Tonga hunt for youth players

Acting Tongan coach Isi Faitani said they were looking for new players to represent the country.

“Preparation has been good so far but we are looking for new players and to develop them in another four years for the next RWC,” Faitani said.

“This is important as we cannot afford to let the old players go as we need players in their early 20’s to step up in coming years.

“We should be getting some overseas players to blend in with local players for the PRC.”