THE absence of senior players from the Dominion Brothers rugby team due to national duties has left its under-21 players to step up and take charge for the Super 7s Qualifier in Sigatoka this Saturday.
Notable names from the club such as Sakiusa Siqila, Filipo Bukayaro and Josese Batirerega will not be part of the team due to commitments with the Fiji Airways Fiji men’s 7s teams in Cape Town for Siqila and Bukayaro and for Batirerega, in Korea.
Despite this, Dominion Brothers head coach Rokolua Manuaba acknowledges the vital duty the younger players will carry out in securing themselves a spot in the McDonald’s Coral Coast Fiji 7s next month.
“Many of our under-21 players have been gaining exposure on the field in major rugby tournaments and have been performing well,” Manuaba mentioned.
“I know that we will field a youth team when we will head down (to Sigatoka) for the qualifiers to the Coral Coast 7s.”
Dominion is grouped in Pool D with Covenant Rugby, Ravuka Sharks and Yalova Spearhead and according to Manuaba, it is a pool of familiar company.
This familiarity stemmed from meeting them in previous competitions such as the Fiji Bitter 7s series and he noted how this attribute would make competition an interesting one.
“We might not be aware of what the Covenant Brothers team will bring however for Ravuka (Sharks) and Yalova (Spearhead), we have faced them in the Fiji Bitter 7s so we are all familiar with each other’s game structures,” he noted.
He added this was an issue his side would need to work on if they needed to have an edge over their pool opponents.
The one-day qualifier competition will take place at Lawaqa Park.
