Mataiasi Stark 
St Theresa Nukubalavu Under-20 captain Rafaele Dagaga remains upbeat despite his side’s semifinal loss to Village Boys in the youth category at the McDonald’s Coral Coast 7s, describing the experience as a valuable learning curve for the young team.
Competing in the tournament for the first time, Nukubalavu exceeded expectations by reaching the semifinals and matching up against more experienced opposition.
Dagaga said the loss was disappointing but highlighted the bigger picture for his squad’s development.
“Yeah of course we’re disappointed with the loss but we’ll take the learning,” Dagaga said. “We did not expect to even make it to the semifinal as this is our first time participating in the Coral Coast 7s.”
The young captain added that the experience has given the team clear areas to improve as they look ahead to future competitions.
“We’ll go back and work on our errors,” he said, confident the exposure at the Coral Coast 7s will help shape the team moving forward.”
The Coral Coast 7s continues at Lawaqa Park in Sigatoka.
Stream the best of Fiji on VITI+. Anytime. Anywhere.
