Briars Women’s Rugby 7s from Sydney Australia have arrived to participate in a series of friendly matches with the Solomon Islands Rugby 7s women team at Town Ground Rugby Stadium this Saturday.
These matches will also form part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) Week, where local coaches and referees who attended workshops throughout the week will have the opportunity to put their new skills into practice.
This tour is made possible through partnership between Solomon Islands Rugby Union Federation (SIRUF), Rugby Australia and the Australian Government, as the friendly matches are aimed to support and promote the development of women’s rugby in the Pacific region and foster greater cooperation between the two countries.
Solomon Islands national 7s Technical Coach, Chris Nay said the upcoming games is all part of developing their programs moving forward towards the end of the year, where they are hoping the Oceania 7s will be another opportunity for them to play against international teams and to keep getting better in rugby against other teams.
“I will be coaching the Solomon Team Rugby 7s women team, and for us it is very important because without competition from places away from our own islands we will not understand different ways of playing because we would only be playing each other. So for us it is very important to make sure that we get strong opposition over here and we can keep practicing against that opposition so that we can get better and better,” said Nay.
Apart from the upcoming series of games on Saturday, the visiting team is said to be also visiting local schools and villages to develop rugby skills and promote the sport before heading back to Australia.
Twelve players and four Staff members have arrived this afternoon for the Briars Women’s Rugby 7s team, being led by Kerry Chikarovski, the Chairlady for New South Wales (NSW) Women’s Rugby.
Source: Press Release, SINIS