A DARK veil of sorrow shrouded Suva Grammar School (SGS) yesterday as the late Ratu Epeli Osborne, coach of its winning under-18 Deans rugby side, was laid to rest.
Osborne was farewelled by a multitude of family members, friends, Grammar old scholars and others who were touched by the selflessness he exuded.
The players he mentored towards lifting the U18 Deans trophy this year stood tall and carried his casket on their shoulders as a final act of service to a man who meant so much to all of them.
Osborne passed away last Saturday at his home in Suva and was buried at the Suva Cemetery. He was 42 years old.
In a memorial service held at the school last Friday, the SGS Old Scholars Association President Stanley Simpson paid a teary tribute to Osborne.
“He’s a man who’s giving his life to other people’s children,” Simpson said.
“Lions are not born roaring. They are built,” Simpson said.
The late coach’s devotion was illustrated in the dedication he drove into the U18 Deans side he coached to lift the trophy he and his teammates last did for Grammar in 2001.
Tributes shared earlier this week recalled how he and the U18 squad welcomed the New Year in camp at the school, getting up at 4am to begin training.
Those training sessions that began after the 2025 Deans competition wrapped up in September last year were done in a gym that was previously a storeroom for used technical equipment.
The gym was what emerged from renovations to the storeroom, funds raised by old scholars a year earlier and construction work he took upon himself with a handful of other volunteers.
Yesterday’s gathering brought together those who had known different sides of Osborne.
For his family, it was a farewell to a loved one.
For his players, it was a chance to remember the coach who demanded their best.
For the school, it was an opportunity to reflect on the man who gave his time to improving the lives of students.
And as Osborne was laid to rest, those who gathered to farewell him were left with memories of a man who gave so much of himself to the school he loved.
