THE 2027 WORLD Cup already looms large for Ireland but for opponents Fiji, Saturday’s Nations Championship clash at the Aviva Stadium is a small step on a longer road ahead.
In late August, Fiji Rugby launched its Nasoko Programme, a talent-development project whose stated aim is to achieve success at the USA World Cup in 2031 and beyond.
It is, in effect, Fijian rugby’s first national high-performance pathway to be built from schools level upward: schools coaches from all four regions of the Pacific island have since joined forces for a week of talent identification, observing Fiji’s most promising U16 and U18 rugby talents, male and female. Players initially underwent Functional Movement Screen (FMS) testing before playing a series of matches.
Partly funded by the Australian government and World Rugby, each participating player in the programme is entitled to access specialist technical coaching, training facilities, high-level S&C, and game education. Every player will also be screened, profiled and entered into Fiji Rugby’s national database for continued monitoring and development. Grassroots coaches from the four regions will also be exposed to high-level training and enter the national pathway.
By the end of the programme, the standout 120 players — 60 boys and 60 girls — are to be split between high-performance academy scholarships and development pathway placements.
Fiji's Jiuta Wainiqolo taking on Ciarán Frawley in 2024. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
The word on everyone’s lips in Fiji is ‘structure’. Rather than stumbling upon emerging talent in a Sevens game or a random Pro D2 match in France, the Fijian union intends to create a runway from which its proud national teams can truly take flight.
Of course, the accompanying terminal already exists to some degree: aligned with the Nasoko Programme, the Fijian Drua’s inclusion in Super Rugby — they first competed in 2022 — can now become an even more profound game-changer for rugby in the country.
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Fiji’s struggles at national level have traditionally been exacerbated by the bleed of talent to faraway lands: for most Test windows, national-team coaches have had to summon players on long-haul flights from Europe, Australasia and Japan, and, on a week’s notice, attempt to piece together something cohesive.
Similar to Argentina, the Fijians tend to take flight on the field only in World Cup years, which afford them far longer training camps during which they can begin to mesh totally disparate styles and perceptions of the game.
Since the Drua were founded, this has begun to change.
Almost a third of Jake White’s squad for Fiji’s Nations Championship northern series this November play their rugby with the nation’s sole professional club. All eight Drua forwards included in the panel featured in Fiji’s matchday 23 to play France last weekend, while Simione Kuruvoli and Isikeli Rabitu were named as the starting half-back pairing.
The Fijian Drua in 2023. Photosport / John Davidson/INPHO
Photosport / John Davidson/INPHO / John Davidson/INPHO
Granted, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing, too, but Fiji Rugby’s aim beyond Australia 2027 is to slow the talent drain to the point that the majority of its squad members play their club rugby with the Drua, therefore strengthening the national team from the perspectives of both tactical ideology and travel.
Such a culture shift is going to take time. Easily forgotten is the sheer disarray into which the Fijian men’s national team was thrown only seven months ago, when Mick Byrne stepped down as head coach to be replaced on an interim basis by women’s head coach Senirusi Seruvakula.
Seruvakula’s first campaign transpired to be an unmitigated disaster: they opened their Nations Championship campaign with a 39-24 defeat by Wales before succumbing 73-8 to England, finishing their summer series with a 33-17 loss to an experimental Scotland side.
In August, then, assistant coach Aaron Mauger — the former All Blacks centre — resigned from his role having scarcely got his feet under the desk, with Fiji Rugby citing “personal considerations” on the Kiwi’s behalf.
In October, the Fijians’ pursuit of a third Pacific Nations Cup title on the spin came a cropper against Japan, and so they entered this November window at a low ebb.
Their heavy defeat by France in Paris will hardly have eased concerns about this current crop of players, but last month’s appointment of former Springbok World Cup-winning head coach Jake White was considered a boon.
New Fiji head coach Jake White. Steve Haag Sports / Steve Haag/INPHO
Steve Haag Sports / Steve Haag/INPHO / Steve Haag/INPHO
White beat out 30 other applicants, including Warren Gatland and Shaun Edwards, to assume the role, and while his first remit is to build towards next year’s World Cup, Fiji plainly hope that he can steer them further into the future.
“His experience across different rugby environments will be important as Fiji Rugby continues to strengthen its high-performance culture and develop the next generation of international players,” read the Fiji Rugby statement confirming White’s appointment. “The ambition extends beyond the results of a single tournament.
“It is about building a stronger foundation for the future, creating an environment where players can fulfil their potential, and inspiring young Fijians who dream of one day wearing the white jersey.”
White is, of course, Mr ‘Structure’, and there exists a hope that he can instil a greater collective on-field discipline in this current Fiji side, as well as improve its set piece. But those developments crucially should not come at the cost of what makes Fiji’s brand of rugby so cherished around the rugby world, even on their poorer days.
They will be up against it at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday against an Ireland side who displayed plenty of their own excellent attacking execution against Los Pumas, but Fiji’s brightest days may lie further ahead — in America, perhaps, or in South America, Spain or Japan beyond it.
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Despite turbulent year, Fiji are laying the runway from which they can take flight beyond RWC 2027
THE 2027 WORLD Cup already looms large for Ireland but for opponents Fiji, Saturday’s Nations Championship clash at the Aviva Stadium is a small step on a longer road ahead.
In late August, Fiji Rugby launched its Nasoko Programme, a talent-development project whose stated aim is to achieve success at the USA World Cup in 2031 and beyond.
It is, in effect, Fijian rugby’s first national high-performance pathway to be built from schools level upward: schools coaches from all four regions of the Pacific island have since joined forces for a week of talent identification, observing Fiji’s most promising U16 and U18 rugby talents, male and female. Players initially underwent Functional Movement Screen (FMS) testing before playing a series of matches.
Partly funded by the Australian government and World Rugby, each participating player in the programme is entitled to access specialist technical coaching, training facilities, high-level S&C, and game education. Every player will also be screened, profiled and entered into Fiji Rugby’s national database for continued monitoring and development. Grassroots coaches from the four regions will also be exposed to high-level training and enter the national pathway.
By the end of the programme, the standout 120 players — 60 boys and 60 girls — are to be split between high-performance academy scholarships and development pathway placements.
The word on everyone’s lips in Fiji is ‘structure’. Rather than stumbling upon emerging talent in a Sevens game or a random Pro D2 match in France, the Fijian union intends to create a runway from which its proud national teams can truly take flight.
Of course, the accompanying terminal already exists to some degree: aligned with the Nasoko Programme, the Fijian Drua’s inclusion in Super Rugby — they first competed in 2022 — can now become an even more profound game-changer for rugby in the country.
Fiji’s struggles at national level have traditionally been exacerbated by the bleed of talent to faraway lands: for most Test windows, national-team coaches have had to summon players on long-haul flights from Europe, Australasia and Japan, and, on a week’s notice, attempt to piece together something cohesive.
Similar to Argentina, the Fijians tend to take flight on the field only in World Cup years, which afford them far longer training camps during which they can begin to mesh totally disparate styles and perceptions of the game.
Since the Drua were founded, this has begun to change.
Almost a third of Jake White’s squad for Fiji’s Nations Championship northern series this November play their rugby with the nation’s sole professional club. All eight Drua forwards included in the panel featured in Fiji’s matchday 23 to play France last weekend, while Simione Kuruvoli and Isikeli Rabitu were named as the starting half-back pairing.
Granted, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing, too, but Fiji Rugby’s aim beyond Australia 2027 is to slow the talent drain to the point that the majority of its squad members play their club rugby with the Drua, therefore strengthening the national team from the perspectives of both tactical ideology and travel.
Such a culture shift is going to take time. Easily forgotten is the sheer disarray into which the Fijian men’s national team was thrown only seven months ago, when Mick Byrne stepped down as head coach to be replaced on an interim basis by women’s head coach Senirusi Seruvakula.
Seruvakula’s first campaign transpired to be an unmitigated disaster: they opened their Nations Championship campaign with a 39-24 defeat by Wales before succumbing 73-8 to England, finishing their summer series with a 33-17 loss to an experimental Scotland side.
In August, then, assistant coach Aaron Mauger — the former All Blacks centre — resigned from his role having scarcely got his feet under the desk, with Fiji Rugby citing “personal considerations” on the Kiwi’s behalf.
In October, the Fijians’ pursuit of a third Pacific Nations Cup title on the spin came a cropper against Japan, and so they entered this November window at a low ebb.
Their heavy defeat by France in Paris will hardly have eased concerns about this current crop of players, but last month’s appointment of former Springbok World Cup-winning head coach Jake White was considered a boon.
White beat out 30 other applicants, including Warren Gatland and Shaun Edwards, to assume the role, and while his first remit is to build towards next year’s World Cup, Fiji plainly hope that he can steer them further into the future.
“His experience across different rugby environments will be important as Fiji Rugby continues to strengthen its high-performance culture and develop the next generation of international players,” read the Fiji Rugby statement confirming White’s appointment. “The ambition extends beyond the results of a single tournament.
“It is about building a stronger foundation for the future, creating an environment where players can fulfil their potential, and inspiring young Fijians who dream of one day wearing the white jersey.”
White is, of course, Mr ‘Structure’, and there exists a hope that he can instil a greater collective on-field discipline in this current Fiji side, as well as improve its set piece. But those developments crucially should not come at the cost of what makes Fiji’s brand of rugby so cherished around the rugby world, even on their poorer days.
They will be up against it at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday against an Ireland side who displayed plenty of their own excellent attacking execution against Los Pumas, but Fiji’s brightest days may lie further ahead — in America, perhaps, or in South America, Spain or Japan beyond it.
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Fiji Rugby Nations Championship Rugby structure