Wolves soak in Fiji experience

A week’s tour is all about exposure and development pathway for the Wolves club from Australia.

This was the view of club head coach and managing director Jason Croll during an interview with SUNsports yesterday.

The team ended their tour with two days of sevens rugby matches against Marist Brothers High School.

“Rugby pathways offer international rugby tours for our boys and girls from all around Australia to play rugby internationally,” he said.

“We are a Barbarian style touring team, so I allow any player in Australia that plays rugby union or rugby sevens to apply for our tours.”

He added that there is a vetting and reference checks in place before a player is approved a spot for the tours.

“We basically travel internationally for fifteens and sevens. We met five days ago and went through a training camp at Gold Coast before we flew to Fiji.”

Croll said his team consists of a touring squad of 11 players and two coaches.

“The response from the boys have been amazing and very few of them have played sevens’ or fifteens internationally,” he said.

“It’s the first time for some of these players to travel on a plane and travelled out of Australia.”

Croll said his players got the chance to play against new players and learn from new coaches.

“The boys got a real introduction to sevens rugby in

Fiji, playing against Fijians in Fiji is something that can’t be matched anywhere else,” he said.

“It was amazing for me to get to experience that as a coach and manager.”

The Wolves club also got to tour the Fijian Drua headquarters in Legalega, Nadi on Monday.

“It was awesome for the boys to see the Drua facility as their first experience in Fiji,” he said.

“It was great for me to catch up with their chief executive officer Jeff Miller, who I've known back in Australia for a number of years.”

Croll and the team were amazed to learn about the Drua’s background and history in the Super Rugby Pacific competition.

“It was great to learn their story, since they've come to be, and what they're trying to achieve both in the professional sphere

of Super Rugby and Super Rugby W,” he said.

“It’s also about what they're doing for grassroots rugby across the Pacific. So that was awesome to see.”

The club will be at Ratu Cakobau Park in Nausori today to watch the top of the Skipper Cup points table clash between Naitasiri and visitors Nadi.