RKS U18 ready to defend Deans Trophy

The main focus for the Ratu Kadavulevu School (RKS) Under-18 team for this season is to suc­cessfully defend the Fiji Secondary Schools Rugby Union's (FSSRU) Vodafone Deans Trophy.

This was the view of RKS U18 team captain Esira Ba­tisoso during the Deans Trophy launch at Gospel High School in Suva yesterday.

"At school, the boys have prepared well, and we learnt a lot of lessons after a few pre-season matches in the past few weeks," he said.

"We also learnt a lot of mistakes from our recent stint in Japan during the Sanix World Rugby Youth Tournament."

Batisoso said other schools from Asia, Africa and Oceania regions played their rugby of a different standard.

"We learn from those lessons, polish these mistakes back home," he said.

RKS finished in 13th place at this year's tournament.

Batisoso added that they would need to improve on a lot of areas after their pre-season friendly against Suva Grammar School (SGS).

SGS won 17 -12 against RKS at their school grounds last week.

"We will play against Sila Central School in our first match this weekend. The coaches have advised us to do our best. With rugby, back in school, most of the students won't be able to all play in the competition. Only 25 students will be chosen to wear the jersey and represent the school."

Batisoso said their coaches also advised the players to prepare well and to perform to their best ability on the field.