Unity push begins for Rugby World Cup campaign

Moves are underway to ensure that the country stands united behind the Flying Fijians in next year’s Rugby World Cup (RWC) in Australia.

This was revealed to SUNsports by Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) board chairman John Sanday.

The RWC will be from October 1 to November 13, next year. The Flying Fijians are in Pool C with Argentina, Spain and Canada. Fiji has reached the RWC quarterfinals in 1987, 2007 and 2023.

Sanday said the first move began two months ago when the FRU board met with the Great Council of Chiefs (GCC) subcommittee in Suva.

“It’s part of our ongoing effort to cement our place in Fijian culture, we paid a courtesy call to the GCC to update them on our plans for the Nations Championship tournament,” he said.

“This is in particular with the Flying Fijians’ three home Test matches in July that will be hosted in the UK (United Kingdom).”

He said they (FRU board) also took the opportunity to brief the subcommittee of the GCC on FRU’s 10-year strategic plan for the sport and the new plans and format of the game this year.

“This includes the game from Kaji rugby, through to Deans, Raluve, Vanua Cup, Marama and Skipper Cup competition,” the former Flying Fijians No.8 said.

“We also updated the (GCC) subcommittee on the work we are doing on character building, gender based violence, and general respect for each other through our GIR (Get Into Rugby Plus programme that is being conducted at various primary schools.”

Sanday said it would end there as they are planning to approach the various peak bodies representing the Indo Fijian community and other ethnic minority groups in the country to update them similarly.

“We want to bring everyone into Fiji Rugby’s ecosystem and unite everyone under the inclusive values of Fiji Rugby. It is important that we are all together in unison to enable us to climb the mountain to win the William Webb Ellis trophy or the Rugby World Cup,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Flying Fijians kick-off their Nations Championship campaign on July 4 against Wales at Cardiff City Stadium followed by their July 11 showdown against England at Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool.

The final match is against Scotland on July 18 at Murrayfield, Edinburgh.