The High Court in Suva had dismissed an application by the Nasinu Rugby Football Union (NRFU) to stop the 2025 Vodafone Vanua Cup semi-final matches, ruling that the team failed to provide sufficient evidence to justify an interim injunction against the Fiji Rugby Football Union (FRU) and Fiji Rakavi Football Union Ltd.
The ruling, delivered by Justice Thusara. Rajasinghe on October 7, 2025, followed an ex parte application filed by Nasinu Rugby seeking to restrain FRU from proceeding with the competition after its complaint over player eligibility was dismissed.
Nasinu argued that two Rewa Rugby Union players had competed without proper release documentation, breaching tournament rules, and that the FRU had unfairly overturned an initial verbal ruling in its favour.
The union also claimed it was wrongfully excluded from the Vanua Cup quarter-finals.
However, the court found no evidence that an official decision had ever been issued in Nasinu’s favour and noted that the union had not followed the appeal procedures set out in the tournament’s Terms of Participation.
“The plaintiff has no evidence before the court to support its claim that the Acting CEO made a verbal decision in its favour,” Justice Rajasinghe said.
He added that stopping the semi-finals at this stage “would cause greater inconvenience not only to the defendants but also to other participating teams.”
The court ruled that damages could be an adequate remedy if Nasinu ultimately succeeds in its substantive claim and dismissed the injunction application.
