Women and Fiji Indo for Fiji TV Sigatoka 7s 01 November, 2011 The Fiji TV Provincial 7s Series began last season to help develop the game locally in a bid to assist the Digicel Fiji 7s team regain its mantle as the planet’s best 7s team. That bid continues this season with the first tournament due to kick-off on Saturday, 12 November in Sigatoka. 

However, Fiji Rugby is not just looking at the development of the game at the highest levels but is also looking at the development of the game among women with the inclusion, for the Sigatoka event, of a women’s competition, as Fiji Rugby’s operations manager, Vilikesa Rinavuaka, revealed. 

“It’s vital we start working on developing the women’s game here in Fiji to a level where we can be competitive with the world’s best teams particularly with the sport becoming an Olympic one in 2016 for both men and women,” Rinavuaka said. 

"But it's not just enough merely to have a single competition and then forget about the women's game until the next tournament rolls around, we really need to bring the women's game right to the forefront of our development to ensure both a men's and women's team from Fiji participate in Brazil in 2016; so consider this as one of the initial steps towards that goal."

And in a bid to reach out to as wide a cross section of the community as possible the Fiji TV Sigatoka 7s will also include a Fiji Indo competition. 

“We also need to make a concerted effort to reach out to other communities, and particularly our Fiji Indo community who make up half this country’s population as statistically, within that community and others, there must be players - both men and women - who have the talent and skills to make it at the highest levels, we just need to find them and help them realize those skills.” 

A total of eight provincial teams have so far registered for the $15,000 Sigatoka 7s with the winner walking away with $7,000. The registration fee for the tournament is $200 per team with registration fees for the women’s and Fiji Indo competition being waived. 

Children will also have a great opportunity to watch many of the country’s best 7s stars in action, at the Sigatoka event, with free entry on the embankment for children under 12 years of age. Adults will pay $3 for the embankment while it’s $5 for the grandstand for both adults and all children. 

The Fiji TV Sigatoka 7s will kick-off at 8:00 AM on Saturday, 12 November at Lawaqa Park. 

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