If rugby fans want to continue witnessing test matches against Tier one nations in the country, they will need to show their support by turning up in numbers.

Fijian National Sports Commission executive chairman Peter Mazey is urging fans to turn up when the Vodafone Flying Fijians play Italy on June 17 and Scotland on June 24 at the ANZ Stadium.

“We are really urging everyone to come along, we have seen how well Fiji supported the Chiefs and the Crusaders,” Mazey said.

“It is a bit sad that we cannot give the same support to our national team. We would like to see more people come along.

“We are extremely keen on encouraging all the support from people in Fiji.

We are encouraging everybody to get tickets, it has gone on sale and they need to buy them early.

“World Rugby will not continue to give us test matches if we cannot show that the people in Fiji are not interested in them.

“We got the opportunity to play some test matches next year and in the new budget we are hoping Government will give us new funding for those.”

Fiji Rugby Union chief executive officer John O’Connor said World Rugby will only allow Tier One nations to play against Fiji at home if the support from the fans is there.

“The two test matches will be really exciting, it has been a long time since we played against Tier One nations,” O’Connor said.

“We are urging fans to come down and fill the stadium because it is only attractive to World Rugby that when they send in Tier One teams the stadium is full of spectators.

We want the fans to support the Flying Fijians.”

Following their test matches, the Flying Fijians will then play their Rugby World Cup qualifiers against Tonga on July 8 and Samoa on July 15.

Edited by Osea Bola

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