When the 1984 national 7s rugby trial was held in Nadi, expectations were that former Fiji five-eighth Esala Labalaba would have good reason to perform, to remind the selectors he still belonged to Fiji’s elite class of five-eighths.
An article in The Fiji Times on March 10 that year said the national selectors Tabualevu (chairman), Pio Bosco Tikoisuva and Meli Kurisaru should expect a back-to-the-wall effort from Labalaba.
The 7s selectors overlooked him for the Hong Kong trip which surprised many rugby experts and certainly angered Nadi supporters.
He captained the team which lost to John Maxwell’s Australian side in the final.
The Nadi farmer said he wanted to show the selectors that his days weren’t over yet.
The disappointment was there, mingled with a bit of anger and resoluteness, and the anticipation was this would turn this little Nadi dynamo into explosive motion and a tigerish weapon of destruction, something Fiji could ill-afford to ignore.
He had been working hard at training to get back into the national team, after he pulled out of the squad because he could not afford to be away without pay.
The selectors were expected to watch the West trials at Nadi in the morning, before travelling to the National Stadium in the afternoon for the East trials.
Labalaba’s second string, first five-eighth Samisoni Nasau, was also in the trial together with Nadroga’s Tawake Dakunibubului.
With the experience behind him, Labalaba was expected to come through the West trials with flying colours.
His real opposition in the main trial was the man who replaced him to Hong Kong, Acura Niuqila.
Meanwhile, the article said it would be interesting to see how former national prop and Rewa captain Josefa Rauto shaped up against his opponents.
Rauto dropped out of the national team after the disappointing UK tour in 1982, but he said that he had been training hard to win back a position in the team.
“I know age is catching up with me, but I’m much fitter than I was two weeks ago,” Rauto said.
Rauto led Rewa to win the Central Rally at the National Stadium.
The selectors were due to name their final trialists, and the team for a three-week tour of Australia.
