As part of the union’s development program, Ba Rugby took three teams to last weekend’s Coral Coast 7s at a packed Lawaqa Park in Sigatoka.
“We went for the experience and to test our players against the best in Fiji and beyond,” BRU secretary Pastor Gaby Kautoga said.
“We travelled down with Allied Buses on the Wednesday evening and camped for three nights in Malevu Village.
“Perhaps our teams didn’t finish as high up as they had hoped, but the whole weekend was a wonderful experience and the men’s and juniors teams pulled off some excellent victories.
“Had it not been for a few dropped balls and missed tackles, all the teams could have placed much higher up the final rankings.”
Tries from Damasino Levi and Varasiko Tabananuku saw the Ba men’s team outgun the USA Falcons on Day One 14-10, but they then fell 5-12 in a tense battle to last year’s runners-up Fire.
In the bowl quarter-finals, Ba’s Ananaiyasa Naicula scored under the posts on full-time against Debo Babaas to win the game 17-10 – or so they thought. As the players and supporters celebrated, the referee decided the game would restart for another play.
One yellow card later and Debo levelled to send the match into extra-time, which they proceeded to win.
After slipping past Pacific Nomads 17-5, Ba faced the Gordon Tietjens-coached All Stars in the shield final, and what a spectacular end-to-end game it was.
Trailing 14-24 with minutes remaining, Ba’s Epineri Goneva scored two late tries to take the tie 26-24. Silverware at last.
Ba Juniors excel Ba Juniors performed the best out of the province’s three teams, reaching the bowl final after throwing away a 12-0 lead against Japan U18s in pool play.
They needed extra time to defeat their cousins Navala 15-10 in the bowl quarters, then edged the Coral Coasters 12-5 in the semis.
When the final hooter sounded in the bowl final against Tuburua Highlanders, tries from Viliame Gaunavinaka, Jerry Tuwai and Kaliova Vananalagi had the scoreboard showing Ba leading 22-19.
With ball in hand, Ba kicked it out and celebrated in an even more fervent manner than their senior counterparts had done earlier. But the scoreboard was wrong.
The score was actually 19-19, so the game went to extra time, and Tuburua triumphed. For the Ba Women, the tournament was a big learning curve on and off the field.
They fell 5-26 to an experienced Seahawks side then went down 0-40 to the eventual champions Matakesi from New Zealand.
The women fancied their chances against Western Drifters in the bowl play-offs but were given three yellow cards in quick succession, making it a pretty daft four against seven on the field.
Even so, they came back well, and scored two good tries in the second half from Mary Jane Navuru and Acelini Tuwai but missed the vital conversion under the posts to go down 12-14.
“I’d like to thank everyone who helped Ba Rugby with this trip,” Kautoga said.
“The people of Malevu Village looked after us very well, and the tournament organisation was simply immaculate.
“I am sure all of our team management and players will remember their experience here at the McDonald’s Coral Coast 7s.”
BRU’s results:
Ba Men Pool MB Ba 0-31 Dominion Brothers Ba 14-10 USA Falcons Ba 5-12 Fire Bowl quarter-finals Ba 17-22 Debo Babaas Shield semi-finals Ba 17-5 Pacific Nomads Shield final Ba 26-24 Ambassador All Stars Final position: 13th
Ba Women
Pool WA Ba 5-36 Seahawks Ba 0-41 Matakesi Bowl play-offs Ba 5-26 Manly Mermaids Ba 12-14 Western Drifters Final placing: 11th
Ba Juniors
Pool YC Ba 27-5 Barbarians Ba 7-17 Dominion Brothers Ba 12-26 Japan SDS U18s Bowl quarter-finals Ba 15-10 Navala (aet) Bowl semi-finals
Ba 12-5 Coral Coasters Bowl final Ba 19-24 SDS Tubarua Highlanders (aet) Final placing: 10th
