FRU 2025 Planner and Updates

The Fiji Rugby Union is pleased to announce our schedule of events for the year 2025 for rugby in Fiji. Fiji Rugby Union is targeting to grow the game strategically to ensure sustainability on a long-term basis. Having said that, there are short- and medium-term target outcomes that we are looking to pursue immediately to ensure that it strengthens our development pathway programs and has sustainable impacts to our long-term objectives.

Our commitment to strengthening governance and expanding pathways for talent across all levels remains paramount, and we are confident that these changes will bring significant positive momentum to the sport and its key stakeholders including our passionate Fijian Fans. This schedule has been presented to our member Unions at our recent General Assembly in Nadi and had been endorsed.

New Leadership and Board Structure

We are delighted to have a new Board of Directors in place, with Mr. John Sanday at the helm. The expertise and experience of the new board members will be invaluable in shaping the future direction of Fiji Rugby. Their support and due advice will provide the Strategic Direction for our management team and the staff at Rugby House, particularly in strengthening our governance framework, which is essential for the continued growth and sustainability of the game.”

2025 Rugby Calendar and Key Competitions

The 2025 rugby calendar is already underway, with our Domestic 7s competition which had kicked off in October and is in place until the end of April 2025. The Fiji Airways National Sevens Teams gearing up for the next leg of the HSBC Sevens Series. The 2nd leg of the HSBC World 7s series will kick off in Perth from January 24-26, 2025, as the national teams look to improve on our performances during the 1st leg in Dubai and South Africa. The next legs thereafter for both the Men’s and Women’s programs are:

• Vancouver 7s
• Hong Kong 7s
• Singapore 7s
• And the final series will be held in LA (USA)

The Sports World Under 20 side, under the leadership of Head Coach Senirusi Seruvakula, will begin its campaign in March with a series of matches against Samoa, Tonga, and an Invitational Moana Pacifica U20 side. These fixtures serve as vital stepping stones for Fijian talent to progress through the ranks, with the potential to represent the Fijian Drua, Moana Pacifica, secure professional contracts with other professional clubs or ultimately named for the Flying Fijians.

Our National Kaji & Kajiana Rugby Competition is tentatively scheduled for the Term 1 School Holidays between May 10th-17th 2025.

Our National Secondary Schools Vodafone Deans competition will be running from June 7 to August 23, where secondary school players will battle for supremacy in both the boys’ and girls’ divisions. This competition serves as a crucial development platform for emerging Fijian talent. The Fiji U18 schoolboys’ team will be chosen after the Deans Tournament and prepare to tour and play the Australian and NZ U18 schoolboys’ team later in the year.

Test Matches and International Fixtures

Our team is in discussion with Rugby Australia and Scotland Rugby Union for potential test matches with their men’s national team mid-year. We will make a formal announcement once the FRU solidifies and puts pen to paper and finalize an agreement for these test matches to kick-off.

For the women’s game, the Vodafone Fijiana XVs team is gearing up for the Women’s Rugby World Cup, scheduled for August 22 to September 27. The women’s team has been placed in Pool B alongside Scotland, Wales, and Canada. The Vodafone Fijiana XVs will also host the Australian Wallaroos on May 3rd and the USA XVs team in July prior to leaving for the World Cup event in England.

Domestic Competitions and Provincial Rugby

The Provincial Competitions, including the Skipper Cup, Marama Cup, Vodafone Vanua Cup, and Royal Tea Ranadi Cup, will commence from August 2 to November 1, 2025, avoiding clashes with other major competitions (Super Rugby) in the first quarter of the year.

To assist in preparing our Vodafone Fijiana 15s team for RWC 2025 in August, we will be having a newly proposed Franchise Domestic competition from April to May to provide our players not included in the Fijiana Drua with needed competition and game time in their preparation for the World Cup event. This is currently being worked on and confirmation of the same will be made available once we finalize the details.

The year will conclude with the Northern Tour in November, where the FIJI Water Flying Fijians will face off against some of the top rugby nations in the Northern Hemisphere. Discussions are currently ongoing on teams we will play against during this window and will be confirmed once we finalize these discussions.

New Apparel Partner – UMBRO

Fiji Rugby Unions Apparel partnership agreement with Nike concluded at the end of December 2024. Fiji Rugby Union has now partnered with Umbro to be our new Apparel partner for the next 5 years commencing 01st January 2025. The Fiji Rugby 7s Mens and Womens team have been outfitted with our new Umbro gear that they will also use at the next HSBC 7s series leg in Perth. We will conduct an official launch of this partnership once we have our Umbro merchandise available for retail at Tappoos outlets.

Fiji Rugby’s 2025 calendar and the way forward promises to be exciting, and the Union looks forward to engaging with rugby fans, players, and supporters as we navigate on this ambitious journey.