Gau’s under-13 Kajiana rugby team emerged from a loss described by their coach as stage-fright in their first match against Taveuni to win 5-0 over Suva in their second Vodafone Fiji Kaji/Kajiana match at Buckhurst Park in Suva yesterday.
The unconverted try was made by Siteri Drawekau and for team coach Mateo Vianny, seeing the team bag a win yesterday was a tick in a deep-rooted plan for Gau to have a Kajiana team in the competition this year, following a six-year hiatus.
“It is true that most efforts are concentrated towards succeeding academically but in this vein, this is another pathway they could follow to carve a better livelihood for them in the future,” Vianny said after the match.
The coach, following their win, thanked the Lord and his team for getting the job done.
He added their preparations for the national competition started with the basics of the game and was not without its fair share of challenges.
“There are always challenges and then you have the challenge of shifting our mindsets towards catering to the players in preparing them for the competition,” he said.
“A challenge faced was the effort of trying to bring them over (to Viti Levu).
“We tried in the past five years, for a long time there was no team from Gau in the competition and the last time they were in it was in Lawaqa (Lawaqa Park, Sigatoka),” he highlighted.
He was referring to the 2019 Vodafone Kaji Rugby Championship, where nearly 1300 players in 68 teams from four divisions in Fiji competed in it.
As the competition continues today, he extended his thanks and appreciation on behalf of the team to the people of Gau and the Lomaiviti Group for their support.
The competition will end tomorrow.