“Skipper Cup is going to get tougher” Sale Sorovaki

Fiji Rugby Operations Manager Sale Sorovaki believes there will be more upsets expected as the teams begin to find momentum in the Fiji Rugby Skipper Cup Competition.

Sorovaki said “Some teams are finding their form now and all the Teams are aware of the importance of maintaining the consistency throughout the 14 weeks of competition to avoid being relegated to the Fiji Rugby Vodafone Vanua Competition. Teams are also adapting to the two round competition format and they are having to adapt to ensure they maintain consistency throughout the 14 round competition and are finding it a challenge to be consistent week in and week out”.

He added “It’s first for Fiji, for coaches and the teams to play two rounds of Skipper Cup.

“Teams have registered much bigger squads because of injuries and loss of form of their players.”

Rugby experts and coaches from the High-Performance Unit have been visiting all the Fiji Rugby Skipper Cup and Fiji Rugby Vodafone Vanua Championship venues to gauge the performance of the players in various teams.

Sorovaki said “We had meeting with some of the coaching staff and also the national coach, they have viewed most of the games and they have pointed out of the areas which needs improvements.” He highlighted that some of the work on areas as highlighted in the review are;

· Improvement in the time the ball is in play

· Keeping and valuing possessions through multi phases of play

· There was a lot of aimless kicking which only resulted in lost possessions and teams then having to defend

· Players are choosing to run direct at their opposition rather than running into space and trying to off load to the supporting players

· Teams are creating a lot of space out wide but poorly timed passes or choosing to run into contact are preventing teams from scoring more tries

· Improvement in set pieces (lineouts and scrums).

“To certain extent, we have seen the Fiji Rugby Skipper Cup games going up several levels this year but there are always areas of improvements and we will be working with the Coaches to ensure we continue to uplift our standards” he added.

We are so grateful that Top Match Official Glen Jackson is assisting our match official review performance on a weekly basis and assist identify work on areas for our match officials. We are seeking assistance from WR on the provision of the proper communication equipment for our match officials so we can continue to uplift the standard

He highlighted that there could be a possible change in the top three of Skipper Cup points table after this round of competition.

“When we only had one round of competition, by know we already would have predetermined whose going to be in the top 4 but if you see know, the lead on the table is probably going to change” said Sorovaki.

Fiji Rugby CEO John O’Connor together with Sorovaki and whole FRU team have acknowledged the support provided by the Unions, discipline forces and the medical experts.

Sorovaki said “We are very grateful of the assistance provided by Police Forces and the Republic of Fiji Military Force for providing COVID-19 fever screening teams and securities at all 12 venues and the Ministry of Health and its IMT Team for helping us so far.”

“We are into our 7th round of Skipper Cup and 3rd round of Vodafone Vanua Championship and nothing changes in-terms of COVID 19 protocols” he said.