While Fiji helped dump the floundering Wallabies out of the Rugby World Cup, Australia has announced additional funding to support Fiji's teams in Super Rugby competitions.
Fiji claimed their first ever tournament victory over the Wallabies, winning their pool clash, and advanced through to the quarter-finals where they suffered a tight loss to England.
The Australian government has announced it will continue financial support to the Fiji Rugby Union that will allow the Fijian Drua and women's side Fijiana to remain a part of the Super Rugby Pacific and Super W competitions for the next four years.
The funding is being delivered through PacificAus Sports, the Australian government’s $15.6 million high performance sport program in the Pacific. Support for the Drua has allowed more Fijian players to remain in their home country rather than leave to play overseas.
Fijian Drua chief executive Mark Evans said it had had a particularly big impact on female rugby players in the country, with their women's team winning back-to-back Super W titles in 2022 and 2023.
The men's team made the finals in 2023 for the first time.
“This generous funding allows us to sustain Fiji’s only professional sports franchise, the Fijian Drua, enabling us to participate in Super Rugby Pacific and Super W competitions," Evans said at Monday's announcement in Sydney. “Since the Fijian Drua’s inception, we have fast become a real pathway for young Fijian women and men to pursue a professional career in their favourite sport (rugby) in Fiji itself, whereas previously they would have had to move ashore for these opportunities."
