With not much money and barely a ground to train on, the U18 USP Raiders didn’t let that deter them from achieving their goal.

In fact, they used those setbacks as motivation in their U18 Rugby League Final win over the West Fiji Dolphins.

Obstacles did not hinder the USP Raiders to overcome the West Fiji Dolphins who had been holding the title for the past four years says coach Jone Seveti.

“We don’t have any sponsors with us to cater us on our long journey as we went down and play in the semis we went down and played in the finals and we have to take money out from our own pocket and to go down and attend the semifinal and the final, and we are so fortunate that we won that game.”

Seveti says the lack of facilities stood out like a sore thumb.

“We don’t have good ground as other teams have, we have coconut trees in the middle of the ground which we have to dodge during our training during our game time and we also have some steel that are popping out from the ground and there are gravels everywhere, so its a big achievement for us.”

Team Vice Captain John Ambunio says spirituality played a big role.

“Even though there wasn’t enough sports gear, we have Korobaba near us, where we camped for one month, fast, we pray, there was pastors who helped us, who motivated us, yeah, to overcome those circumstances.”

The U18 USP Raiders team have proven when there is a will, there will always be a way.