Fiji Rugby Union faces another hurdle to the lead-up to the IRB Junior World Cup in Wales next month after the unavailability of New Zealand-based Jerry Tagicakibau.
The former Fiji U19 team vice captain was not released by the Counties Manukau Rugby Club in New Zealand.
This was confirmed by Fiji coach Rayne Simpson.
“Jerry will not be available for selection,” Simpson said.
“Counties Manukau rejected our request to release Tagicakibau. It is unfortunate because he is under contract with them. He is also believed to be nursing an injury.”
“He injured his knee last week and needs to undergo rehab training for four to six weeks. It is disappointing that we cannot use him in the World Cup.”
Simpson said a replacement will be chosen from his 33-member training squad.
“We march into camp tomorrow in Suva before we play Tonga in what will be our last trial. We will select the final 26-member team after that.”
Fiji was one of the first teams to name its JWC squad. Instead of 26 players six weeks ago I decided to continue to train a 33-member squad to encourage good team cohesion.
Fiji will play a World cup build-up against neighbours Tonga at the National Stadium on May 17.
“We now enter the business end of the preparation which is our pre-competition phase for this camp,” Simpson said.
“We will focus on our unit skills and tactical development to ensure perfect game plans for the JWC tournament. Our conditioning focus is on our anaerobic capacity and power and power play,” he added.
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