Fijian Latui

Last updated

Fijian Latui
Fijian Latui logo.png
Union Fiji Rugby Union
Founded2019;4 years ago (2019)
Ground(s)
Coach(es) Senirusi Seruvakula
League(s) Global Rapid Rugby
Union website
www.fijirugby.com

The Fijian Latui is a professional rugby union team based in Suva that plays in the Global Rapid Rugby competition. [1]

Contents

Officially launched in March 2019, the Latui played four Pacific Showcase matches during May and June 2019, [2] before joining the inaugural Global Rapid Rugby tournament in 2020. [3]

It was originally expected that the team would compete in 2019 for Rapid Rugby's A$1 million first prize, [4] but the tournament launch was postponed for a year due to the shortened time frame following World Rugby approval in November 2018. [5] The Showcase Series was arranged for 2019 instead. [6]

Name

Latui, in Fijian, refers to the Fiji goshawk, a small hawk found in that country. [1] The Latui can hunt its prey with either a stealthy glide or a rapid flapping attack. [1]

Squad

The Latui team is drawn mainly from players based locally in Fiji. [1] The squad for the 2020 season is:

Fijian Latui – 2020 Global Rapid Rugby  
Notes:
The initial 33-man squad was named in February 2020. [7] Players joining in subsequent rounds were:
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Naruma, Naimasi, Tela, Tikoirotuma , Raiyala and Malele (Rd 1). [upper-alpha 2]
  2. "Fijian-Latui favourites at home against China Lions". Rapid Rugby. Archived from the original on 13 March 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
Bold denotes player is internationally capped. (c) Denotes team captain.1 denotes marquee player.
Joeli Veitayaki Jnr NRC 2017 (cropped).jpg
Prop Joeli Veitayaki Jnr
Ratunaisa Navuma NRC 2017 (cropped).jpg
Hooker Ratunaisa Navuma
Serupepeli Vularika NRC 2018.jpg
Five-eighth Seru Vularika

Records

Season standings

Global Rapid Rugby

Year Pos Pld W D L PF PA +/− BP PtsPlay-offs
2019   * 2nd4202114135−21210—

Notes:

^* 2019 Rapid Rugby matches in the Pacific showcase.

Head coaches

Captains

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Super Rugby</span> Rugby union club competition

Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hemisphere competitions dating back to the South Pacific Championship in 1986, with teams from a number of southern nations, the Super Rugby started as the Super 12 in the 1996 season with 12 teams from 3 countries: Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The Super 12 was established by SANZAR after the sport became professional in 1995. At its peak the tournament featured the top players from nations representing 16 of the 24 top-three finishes in the history of the Rugby World Cup. After the COVID-19 pandemic forced the competition to split into three, the reformed competition in 2021 and beyond will only include Oceanian clubs representing Australia, New Zealand and from the Pacific islands.

Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in Fiji. It is divided into over 30 provincial unions. The Fiji Rugby Union is a member of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA), along with Samoa and Tonga. There are approximately 80,000 registered players from a total population of around 950,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Force</span> Australian rugby union club, based in Perth, WA

The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. Following their axing they played in the National Rugby Championship in 2018 and 2019, replacing the Perth Spirit, and Global Rapid Rugby from 2018 to 2020, an Indo-Pacific competition organised by Andrew Forrest.

Rugby league is a popular team sport played in Fiji since 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Rugby Pacific Challenge</span> Annual rugby union football tournament

The World Rugby Pacific Challenge, formerly the IRB Pacific Rugby Cup, is an annual rugby union football tournament held in Oceania since 2006. It is contested by national 'A' teams from the Asia-Pacific region. The tournament is run by World Rugby through Oceania Rugby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugby union in Fiji</span>

Rugby union in Fiji is a popular team sport and is considered to be the national sport of the country. The sport was introduced to Fiji in the 1880s. Fiji is defined as a tier two rugby nation by World Rugby. The national team has competed at the Rugby World Cup and made it as far as the quarter finals. Their sevens team is also noted for their success, winning multiple Olympic gold medals, World Rugby Sevens Series and Rugby World Cup Sevens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South China Tigers</span> Rugby team

The South China Tigers is a professional rugby union team from Hong Kong that plays in the Global Rapid Rugby competition.

The Super Rugby competition in rugby union, including teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands and, in the past, from Argentina, Japan and South Africa, is based on a "franchise" system of teams. The original member countries – Australia, New Zealand and South Africa – all have several regional franchises, while the expansion countries – Argentina, Fiji, Japan and the Pacific Islands – have/had one franchise each. The article covers specific detail as to the areas covered by each Super Rugby team. Bold denotes stadiums that are current primary stadiums for the franchises.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirisi Kuridrani</span> Rugby player

Kirisi Kuridrani, formerly Kirisi Nasiganiyavi, is an Australian rugby union player of Fijian descent. He is currently signed to Japanese club Honda Heat and previously played for the Queensland Reds in Super Rugby. His usual position is wing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Rugby Championship</span> Australian national rugby union competition

The National Rugby Championship, known as NRC, was an Australian rugby union competition. It was contested by eight teams, seven from Australia and one from Fiji. The tournament ran from 2014 until 2019 before being disbanded in 2020 following the change of the Australian rugby TV broadcasting deal from Fox Sports, who had funded the competition, to Stan Sport. The 2020 competition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fijian Drua</span> Fijian professional rugby team

The Fijian Drua is a professional rugby union team based in Fiji that competes in the Super Rugby. The team was created by the Fiji Rugby Union and launched in August 2017, shortly before the 2017 National Rugby Championship. The team previously competed in the Australian National Rugby Championship competition between 2017 and 2019, when the tournament was disbanded.

Pita Gus Nacagilevu Sowakula is a Fijian professional rugby union footballer who plays as a flanker for New Zealand franchise Chiefs. In his youth career, he played basketball and was selected in the 2012 FIBA Oceania Under 19 Championships for Fiji.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global Rapid Rugby</span> International rugby union competition

Global Rapid Rugby was an international rugby union competition that launched a showcase series for six professional teams in 2019, played in locations across the Asia-Pacific region. Rapid Rugby matches are slightly shorter than the traditional 80 minutes and have other variations from standard rugby laws that are intended to increase the speed of the game.

The 2019 Global Rapid Rugby season was a showcase series for seven rugby union teams played in locations across the Asia-Pacific region. Global Rapid Rugby originally planned a full home and away tournament followed by finals, with eight teams competing in 2019. The competition launch was postponed by a year, however, due to the short time frame following World Rugby approval in November 2018. A scaled-down showcase series of fourteen matches was arranged instead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manuma Samoa</span> Rugby team

Manuma Samoa is a professional rugby union team based in Samoa that plays in the Global Rapid Rugby competition. Founded in 2019 as Kagifa Samoa, the team is backed by the Samoa Rugby Union.

The 2020 season of Global Rapid Rugby ended after only one round of competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was not continued. The season was launched in February 2020 as the first full home and away Rapid Rugby tournament, following the shorter showcase series held the previous year.

Napolioni Ratu Bolaca is a Fijian rugby sevens and rugby union player, who has played for the Fiji national rugby sevens team since 2019. At club level, he plays for Fijian Drua. Bolaca was the top point scorer in the 2019–20 World Rugby Sevens Series. He was part of the Fijian squad that won the rugby seven tournament at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics.

Jiuta Naqoli Wainiqolo is a Fijian rugby union player who currently plays for Toulon in the Top 14 competition in France and for the Flying Fijians 15s and 7s teams. During the 2020 Summer Olympics, he was a member of Fiji's Men's Rugby 7s team, which won the gold medal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiji at the 2022 Commonwealth Games</span> Sporting event delegation

Fiji competed at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England between 28 July and 8 August 2022. It was Fiji's seventeenth appearance at the Games.

Livai Natave is a Fijian rugby union player who plays for Drua in Super Rugby. His playing position is prop. He was named in the Drua development squad for the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific season.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Fijian Latui set for elite international competition". Fiji Sun. 1 March 2019. Archived from the original on 1 March 2019.
  2. ↑ "Rapid Rugby 2019 Schedule on show" (PDF) (Press release). Global Rapid Rugby. 1 March 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 March 2019.
  3. ↑ Tavaga, Meli (1 March 2019). "FRU launches Fijian Latui". FBC News. Archived from the original on 1 March 2019.
  4. ↑ "Sport: Sport: Rapid Rugby to provide Pacific boost". Radio New Zealand. 14 December 2018. Archived from the original on 15 January 2019.
  5. ↑ Taylor, Nick (31 January 2019). "New Global Rapid Rugby competition delayed until next year". The West Australian. Archived from the original on 1 March 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  6. ↑ "Western Force to face Robbie Deans again". Special Broadcasting Service. 1 March 2019. Archived from the original on 1 March 2019.
  7. ↑ "Plenty of ammunition named in Fijian Latui squad". Fiji Rugby. 10 February 2020. Archived from the original on 11 February 2020.
  8. 1 2 Nasokia, Waisea (22 May 2019). "Back to basics says Fijian Latui coach". Fiji Sun. Archived from the original on 5 June 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  9. ↑ Tavi, Karalaini (11 March 2020). "One mind, one soul says Latui Captain". FBC News. Archived from the original on 11 March 2020.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.