Hillmen stay positive

Logistical challenges are what the Naitasiri rugby team is facing before they take on Standard Concrete Tailevu in Sat­urday's Skipper Cup semi-final at the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva.

This issue was raised yesterday by Naitasiri coaching director Ilaitia Tuisese as they encounter disrup­tions over their players availability.

"We do have some disruptions," he told SUNsports.

"We've got about five players with the Police team currently camp­ing in Sigatoka, another six of our players with the Fiji Warriors in Nadi and several of our Army boys are training with the military team."

Tuisese said they are hopeful of getting everyone together by today so they could train as a unit.

Despite the challenges, the wily coach maintained a positive out­look, emphasising the depth and resilience of the current squad.

"We're not complaining- we've got a good squad. By Thursday, we expect everyone to be in camp and ready to train together. It's the same kind of challenge we faced last week before beating Ba and we managed to get through it."

Naitasiri faces a tough test in Tai­levu, who had already beaten them in the early rounds of this year's Skipper Cup competition.

"Tailevu definitely has the upper hand. They beat us the last time, and they know it.

It's always a big challenge when we play them- two neighbouring provinces, sharing the same ground and always a close game we meet," Tuisese said.

Despite the past result, Tuisese believes this Naitasiri squad is bet­ter prepared now. Naitasiri head coach Timoci Tinaviti has rotated players throughout the season, in­troducing 23 new players in 2025- creating more depth and options.

"I was doing my profiling- 23 debu­tants this year until last weekend. That's a huge boost in depth com­pared to when we last faced Taile­vu. Mentally, we should be right."

With a place in the grand-final at stake and the season on the line, Tuisese has called on fans and sup­porters to turn up in numbers.

"It's going to be a big game. Who­ever loses - their season ends."

"We haven't won the Skipper Cup in 15 years. "We've already secured the Fare­brother Trophy this year. The mis­sion hasn't changed - we're going for both."