Sevens maestro Waisale Ser­evi has rated Fiji Airways Fijian 7s halfback Seremaia (Jerry) Tuwai as one of the best players in the world.

Speaking to (SUNsports), Serevi said Tuwai reminds him of his playing days when he played for the national 7s team.

“Jerry Tuwai is one player that resembles my style of play,” he said.

“Jerry has got goose steps just like me and the interesting thing about him is that he tackles as well. He’s very strong in defence.

“The turnovers maybe 60 to 70 per cent are done by him at crucial times of the games.”

Serevi said he had heard from trainer Naca Cawanibuka that Tu­wai really trains hard and doesn’t rely on anyone.

“Similarly during my playing days I used to train on my own without any sort of assistance from anyone because I knew for a fact the entire team and the coun­try would heavily rely on me. That is why I always maintain that dis­cipline and work ethics in mind.”

SPORTS TOURISM

Serevi is now the Russian 7s head coach and has brought over two teams to play at the two-day Fiji Bitter Marist 7s which gets under­way today.

With the recent development of sporting facilities and Fiji being the home of rugby sevens, Serevi believes that this could attract international teams to come and train here.

Serevi took his 28-member Russian team to visit the Up­rising Sports Centre at Pa­cific Harbour in Deuba on Wednesday and reminded them that the national 7s team trained there be­fore winning the gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Bra­zil.

“In terms of any team interested in training here for sevens rugby or fast track them in getting the much-needed experience I think there is no better place likes Fiji,” he pointed out.

This in return is good for the country economically as these overseas teams stay in hotels and players and officials also do their shopping while here. Serevi also highlighted that the weather here is good along with the modern fa­cilities and also that the level of 7s competition in the country is high.

“If we take a look back all the 7s tournaments we have been host­ing here has never been won by an overseas team. Looking at how rugby sevens has evolved in Fiji I only wish I was playing in this era where we have the best facili­ties and coaches specifi­cally on different aspects of the game like having a nu­tritionist and physiotherapist.”

He added that it’s time to pro­mote Fiji as an ideal place for overseas sporting teams to come over and prepare for their inter­national engagements.

Edited by Leone Cabenatabua

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