Super Ten : Tabua proposes new format

Fiji Times - Saturday, May 17, 2008 1:30 PM

THE Fiji Rugby Union plans to introduce a Super 10 competition next year. There are also plans to shorten the playing season to give players time to recuperate.

The proposal from National coaching director Ilivasi Tabua will have the S10 scheduled from April to June next year and it will be a provincial based competition to entice the support from the vanua.

The Colonial Cup franchise competition will end after next year to give way for the Super 10.

The FRU will select the top 10 provincial teams for the competition and will assist unions with funding.

It will serve as a selection ground for the Fiji Barbarians and Fiji Warriors for the Pacific Rugby Cup (PRC).

The proposal is aimed at cutting the fifteens season back by at least three months.

The season kicks off with the PRC in February and March, followed by the Super 10. The Pacific Nations Cup and Farebrother Challenge will run consecutively from June to mid-August.

The FRU will now consult major unions before a final decision is made.

The Sevens season will remain the same.

Tabua said the current format runs, which begins in February and ends in November, did not give players enough time to rest.

"It's a hectic season and players, coaches and administrators need time off to recover," Tabua said.

"We play rugby all throughout the year in both sevens and fifteens and the body cannot handle it.

"The players need time to bulk themselves up for the new season and mid-October to December is the ideal time."

Tabua said this would allow the Barbarians and Warriors to have more time to train together and form a combination before the PRC.

FRU High Performance Unit manager Peter Murphy said the proposal would bring the administration of provincial unions up to par with Rugby House.

"The Super 10 will be an amalgamation of the Colonial Cup and Sanyo Cup but with more teams in it," Murphy said.

"We will resource them individually and empower the unions and get them up to speed.

"They will get a head coach, administrator and trainer to get them to follow the national program."

In their assessment of the PRC, Barbarians coach Eddie Waqa and his Warriors counterpart Iliesa Tanivula believe more time must be allowed to prepare a combination.

"We need to cut down on the season. I think the focus should be on the Sanyo Cup and we should do without the Colonial Cup," Waqa said.

"We should just have one competition. Money for the Colonial Cup should be resourced to provincial unions to develop their players for the Sanyo Cup.

"Then we can select our players and work with them until the PRC."

Tanivula said the teams must be named after the Sanyo Cup and players given programs to work on before the PRC.