Vodafone Fiji Bati skipper Wes Naiqama was close to tears last night when he and his gallant warriors were welcomed by hundreds of fans upon arrival at the Nadi International Airport.

The team was greeted to a hero’s welcome – as fans gathered outside the airport hours before the arrival just to catch a glimpse of their warriors who had exited the Rugby League World Cup with a semi-final loss to hot favourites Australia.

“It’s unbelievable really,” Naiqama said later.

“We lost the semi finals and while we may have created history we didn’t know how the people at home took the loss,” he added.

The crowd greeted the team with shouts of congratulations that had the team emotional - Jarryd Hayne, nippy halfback Aaron Groom and James Storer to name a few internationals.

“We didn’t think for a second we would be greeted this big – this was definitely worth it,” Naiqama said.

Vice captain, Waisale Suka said it was a proud moment in his career to be greeted in that manner at the airport.

“Fiji is a rugby union country, not Bati.”

“But this proved otherwise. Lose or win the people of Fiji have made the team proud with their support,” he added.

Naiqama summed his emotions up well when he said, “No money in the world can buy this, we’re proud to have represented our country and the smiles on their faces is something we will hold forever.”

Meanwhile Fiji National Rugby League chairman Peni Musunamasi is proud of the Bati team’s performance at the Rugby League World Cup but his main concern now is if they will be allocated financial support from the parent body.

Musunamasi met with the Rugby League International Federation chairman Colin Love in Australia and a request for a fulltime coaching development manager and office administrator as well as development funding was put forward.

“He was happy to meet me and promised to look into the proposal,” he said about the meeting.
The Bati team’s performance, raking in two wins and two losses, a semi final exit and fourth ranking in the world – Musunamasi believes this will strengthen their deal with RLIF.

“However we need to maintain consistency.”

"We need to continue with development to further improve our ranking."

“The boys did us proud but while that performance was historical, it was just the easy part of the hard miles we have to cover fro here on in,” Musunamasi added.

He said RLIF would hold further talks with the Australian Rugby League officials regarding the future of local players with the NRL feeder and country clubs.

"RLIF will relook at it with the Australian Rugby League and let me know later. I have invited them to our awards night on December 6."

Musunamasi said FNRL would look further if local players were not wanted in Australia.

"Australia is not the only avenue for us. There are other countries like France and England," he said.

Fiji Bati coach Jo Dakuitoga after the side's semi-final loss to Australia said the Bati camp was thrilled with not only their best ever result against Australia, but also their best finish in a major tournament.

"We've learnt a lot of things from this game. Maybe you give us another ten years and we can compete with all these big nations," Dakuitoga said.

Fijilive

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