TWENTY-EIGHT players make up the Fiji under-18 rugby team’s contingent to their clash against the Australian Schoolboys in Canberra next week.
This is the word from head coach Peniona Ranitu, who says four players apart from the 28 will be non-travelling reserves.
The team will be farewelled at a church service that will be held at Suva Grammar School this Sunday before their departure to Australia on Monday.
Preparing a team for the Australian outing meant having to conduct talent identification during the Deans competition as the annual secondary schools rugby competition unfolded at a zonal level before selection intensified at the national stages last month.
“We are in the fourth week of preparation, we started off in the two weeks (school break),” he said.
The team initially had 36 players in its extended training squad when the team was named after the final of the Deans competition last month and since then, exits from players who have taken up rugby scholarships overseas, such as Japan.
And in getting the team together for their match in Australia, it meant assembling them from various schools and having them gel well together on the field.
“That was the main component of our camp, to bring them together.”
Meanwhile, the team presented its iTatau to the acting minister for Youth and Sports, Maciu Nalumisa yesterday.
The Fiji under-18 Schoolboys team will meet their Australian opponents on Monday, September 29 and their second match together will take place on Saturday, October 4.
Both matches take place at the Viking Park in Canberra.
