Skip­per Cup: New Breed Nadi Ready

Club reps will continue to represent Jack’s Nadi in the third round of the Skip­per Cup Premiership competi­tion against Naitasiri at Prince Charles Park tomorrow.

And the revamped Nadi Rugby Union is in for a good season af­ter carefully planning and laying down the marker during the off-season.

Together with defending cham­pions Suva, Nadi and Naitasiri are unbeaten in the first two rounds and Saturday’s 3pm show­down will determine which team keep the unbeaten tag going into the fourth round.

With no national reps, Nadi have been the surprise package in 2019 dispatching Nadroga and North­land to lead the points’ standings.

Nadi Rugby treasurer/chairman games organizing committee Jeff Tamata said: “After the departure of former reps to other districts, we’ve a new breed of players who graduated from club competition. This is the way forward for Nadi relying on club graduates to fly the flag o vanua Navatulevu.

“We laid down the groundwork during the offseason and we are slowly reaping the dividends but we must keep working hard.

“We started with 1350 out of which we selected 230 for our franchise comp and then we se­lected the best players for the Skipper Cup Premiership.

“We are also spreading the rugby gospel educating our play­ers, coaches and administrators on the rules and changes in the game.

“We’ve eight Level Two coaches and all our club coaches are ac­credited.

“Our Level 3 coaches in charge during the Skipper Cup Premier­ship are John Cagi (women), Co­hen Politini (U19) and Ponijese Lutuciri (senior).”

After training at Prince Charles Park yesterday, Tamata said the players are committed to achieve a positive outcome on Saturday.

“Both are strong teams with tra­ditional support and we are look­ing forward to a good showdown on Saturday,”Tamata said.

“We will be ready for the high­landers.”

Apart from Jack’s of Fiji, Tama­ta is grateful to co-sponsors #1Currency, TTF, McDonald’s, Radisson Hotel, Wyndham Hotel and Selva Tours for their contin­ued support.

The other matches are: North­land v Nadroga, Tailevu v Rewa, and Namosi v Suva.

-Edited by Leone Cabenatabua

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