The Viwa men’s rugby team was disqualified from continuing in the Fiji Bitter Nawaka 7s any further after tournament organisers saw the team contained a majority of the Fiji men’s 7s team.
Tournament organisers made the move after concerns were raised by various teams that the team appearing in the Nawaka leg was a different team from the one they played against in previous leg of the Fiji Bitter 7s series.
Nawaka 7s tournament director Jeff Tamata said disqualifying them was an action not made lightly.
“It wasn’t an easy decision to make especially considering that the Viwa team was represented by the Fiji team,” Tamata explained.
“We weighed our option and for fairness and what we believe in is the grassroots development of clubs in Fiji that was when we came up to our decision to disqualify.”
“Actually, we had not known that the team was coming to our tournament. Had we known prior, had they notified us, we would have weighed all our option and made our decision, let our stakeholders know in advance (and) let the clubs know.”
Tamata said they had taken steps to notify the relevant parties of the decision made in Nadi yesterday.
“We have informed national body – FRU, prior to that and plus there was a lot of questions asked regarding that and we will also explain to the Viwa management team for the decision.”
If they had continued playing as the Viwa rugby team, their performance on the series standings would have affected other teams to clinch the 75 bonus points for the Nawaka and Marist 7s legs.
“Had Viwa won, it would not be fair because Viwa is not represented by the players from Viwa because the clubs have known and they have been represented by the national team,” Tamata said.
The director also acknowledged the Viwa management team for their understanding.
“We are so thankful that they have accepted,” he said.
