THE dust has long settled, the stands are now quiet, the weather continues its shifting stages of either sunshine or rain and Namosi is still the champion of the 2025 Subrails Marama Championship.
While the story will be on how the women representing the Vanua o Nabukebuke achieved their victorious feat, the essence of the competition in its entirety will also remain a broader highlight of a women’s rugby competition that has grown from strength to strength.
Rugby in Fiji is a sport that has a unifying element that brings together people of many cultures, beliefs and backgrounds, the ability to halt all daily life whenever a national team took to the field anywhere in the world and embodies the essence of hard work, success, determination and the happiness that stems from the tears of joy when victory swung in Fiji’s favour.
But behind all that, lies the moving rhythm of the spirit of the game and how its success on a global stage starts at the grassroots level, and takes a firmer form when elevated to provincial rugby, as seen in the Marama Cup.
Throughout the round-robin competitions and the finals, the competition was elevated as it progressed.
No teams wanted to go home early, and no team wanted to leave the pitch with the display of a half-hearted performance, and their matches were an indication of the level of play, fierceness and strength shown by young women taking up such a contact sport.
Namosi was no different. It had maintained a fairly upward trajectory in the Marama Cup season and went into the final against a Suva team that was adamant of giving their fans something to be happy for after their male counterparts made an early exit in the quarter-final in Lautoka.
The additIon of experienced players such as Ivamere Rokowati, Rusila Nagasau, Ana Maria Roqica, Adi Salaseini Railumu and Josivini Naihamu helped them move forward at an accelerated pace.
While other teams had already prepared well ahead of the start of competiton, their captain Laisani Navukaro said they had only begun doing so two weeks before round one kicked off.
A season of ups and downs for them, it was also a season of forging a unique bond of camaraderie and even paying off for teammates’ bus fares to and from training at Suva Grammar School.
With the year wrapping up for rugby at provincial and national level and grassroots level starting at a higher profile with the launch of the Fiji Bitter 7s series, players from the Marama Cup are sure to ply their trade once more in the competition’s six stops around the country.
