Shop N Save Fiji Warriors coach Cohen Politini is excited by the prospects of his young team — primarily under the age of 23 — as they finalise preparations for their one-off match against the touring Australian Country team tomorrow.
Despite the team’s short preparation time, Politini is confident in his side’s fitness going into the game.
“Most of these boys have been conditioned well and we are at the back-end of our local season, so it’s just a matter of us getting them to gel as a team, and we’ve been doing that well for the past few days” he said.
Politini is also excited for the three new players from the Vanua Cup competition. With the guidance of senior players, these young ruggers are a step closer to the Flying Fijians aspirations.
“We’ve got 31 boys in camp, a handful of them are just here to be exposed to the environment. They are from our B-Division competition, which is the Vanua Cup. Exposing them to this environment helps prepare them for their next path to the Flying Fijians.”
The visiting Australian Country squad, comprised of players from regional areas including farmers and tradesmen, from the Stockman rugby club are battle-hardened. They have been in Fiji for two weeks, having warm-up matches against the Army rugby team and recently a combined Malolo rugby side.
Coached by former Wallabies and Brumbies assistant coach Bew Mowen, he said the team has developed a great bond after two weeks and are looking to put on their best performance against the Fiji Warriors.
“We know its going to be a tough game this weekend, we also know we have prepared well and we’re looking forward to putting our best game forward”, Mowen said.
Meanwhile, all gate proceeds will be donated to the Fiji Cancer Society.
The match kicks off tomorrow at 4pm at Prince Charles Park in Nadi.
