Drua Player of the Year Salawa earns Flying Fijians spot

The hurt of been overlooked for selection in last season’s Flying Fijians squad is what drove Kitione Salawa to trainer even harder.

He revealed this during an interview with SUNsports on Tuesday night after he scooped the Fijian Drua’s McDonald’s Player of the Year and the Encore Players Player of the Year awards at the Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa in Denarau.

Salawa told SUNsports, he is ready to put his body on the line for his country after Flying Fijians interim head coach Senirusi Seruvakula included him in the 32-member squad for next month’s Nations Championship.

The robust openside flanker said after what he experienced last year, he was not expecting to get selected for the Flying Fijians.

“I missed out last year because of a bit of slackness on my part,” Salawa admitted.

Fijian Drua’s McDonald’s Player of the Year and the Encore Players Player of the Year Kiti Salawa.

Photo: Fijian Drua

The 25-year-old indicated that was the turning point in his sporting career.

“This year, I took a different approach altogether. I prepared well, I was injury free and ready for the job.”

Salawa’s outstanding campaign in this season’s Shop N Save Super Rugby Pacific helped secure his place in the Flying Fijians squad.

Joining the Flying Fijians is where Salawa plays alongside the experienced Levani Botia, Peceli Yato, Lekima Tagitagivalu and former All Blacks looseman Pita Gus Sowakula.

The Flying Fijians open their Nations Championship against Wales on July 4 at Cardiff City Stadium followed by England on July 11 at the Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool and then Scotland on July 18 at Murrayfield in Edinburgh.

Ticket sales

Meanwhile, Fiji Rugby Union board chairman John Sanday told SUNsports that ticket sales are progressing well except for the game against Wales. “We have surpassed 80 per cent sales for the 52,500-seater Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool for the England game. We anticipate to have this sold out by the time the game comes around on July 11th.”

Sanday said for the Scotland game at Edinburgh, they have sold close to half of the 67,000-seater Murrayfield Stadium. We also anticipate to sell a lot more by the time we play Scotland on July 18th.

“Ticket sales for the game against Wales, July 4th, is slow. We have invested more in marketing of this game to boost sales. We will continue to push and market this game aggressively to reach the ticket sales numbers we have in our projected P&L,” he added.

“The most important aspect of all this is to remember that all surplus revenues we generate from these home games are already earmarked to be invested in facilities and grounds for the future of our game. Young boys and girls will be trained at our high performance and centres of excellence in elite sportsmanship and learn financial literacy and techniques for investing for their future life after rugby.”

Sanday said they have decided for the Flying Fijians to be based in each city for each of the games.

“We have booked a hotel in Cardiff City for the game against Wales. Similarly, we have booked hotels in Liverpool and Edinburgh for the matches against England and Scotland,” he added.