Sevens

Australia supports Fiji 7s travel to Oceania tournament

June 4, 2021 1:47 pm

The Australian Government is proudly supporting the travel costs for national women and men’s sevens teams to compete in the Oceania 7s.

Fiji’s participation is made possible through the PacificAus Sports which is a $52m program that aims to build sustainable, elite sport pathways between Australia and the Pacific, with a major focus on women and girls.

Australia’s Minister for International Development and the Pacific Zed Seselja says Fiji 7s players are international heroes of the game, inspiring fans and uniting communities across Australia and the Pacific.

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He adds they’re delighted to be supporting Fiji’s travel to Australia to compete which will be critical for the national sides’ preparations for the Tokyo Olympics.

Seselja says this goes to the heart of the Fiji-Australia Vuvale Partnership, bringing the two countries top teams together to succeed and thrive.

Oceania Rugby General Manager Bruce Cook says they had to do something for the region’s Olympics pre-qualified teams.

“We needed to give them a competition, a high performance competition stage to play before they go to the Olympics because there’s been no rugby around, they’ve been playing some rugby in Fiji in 7s tournaments but it’s not like playing the best other two teams in the world, that’s why we did it”.

It will be the first time Australia, Fiji and New Zealand will compete together since the cancelation of the 2020 World Rugby Sevens Series.

The Oceania 7s will be held on 25-27 of this month in Townsville, Queensland and the national sides will leave the country this evening.