Redmen enter two sides in Sevens Festival
How do you coach a naturally gifted bunch of Fijians at rugby sevens… “run the water,” was Grafton Redmen first grade coach Gary Powell’s response on the eve of the Byron Bay Sevens Festival this weekend.
Grafton has entered two sides in the Invitational Byron Sevens, and for the Redmen coach, trying to nullify the agility and flair of his players is a lost cause.
“The boys love their rugby and in sevens rugby they get to show off their skills and entertain,” Powell said.
“We’ve been training the past three to four weeks and doing a bit of fitness and seven’s training.
“There’s not much coaching involved. I’ll probably be filling up the water bottles. At training we’ve tried to hone a few skills like lineouts and scrums but the rest we’ll just leave it up to the players…they know what to do.”
Grafton has seen an influx of Fijians in the past 12-months which has been instrumental in the Redmen boosting their playing stocks. And according to Powell, a second wave of rugby-mad Pacific Islanders have recently arrived in the Jacaranda City.
“There’s a new group of Fijians that have moved to town and are staying at the Jacaranda Motel,” Powell revealed.
“They have been training most afternoons at Rugby Park on their own.
“With new players arriving we have been able to enter two sides at Byron which is a bonus.”
Fijians take to rugby like a fish to water, after all, it’s their national sport played with passion and pride.
Coaching the Redmen for the past twelve months has been an eye-opener for Powell who admits having a Fijian flavour within the Club has been both positive, and at times challenging.
“To be quite honest at times we don’t fully understand some of their culture, but we are learning and respect it,” Powell said.
“They are very religious people and our boys have got onboard with that. We don’t know the words to their songs (hymns) but we’re a part of it which is fantastic.
“Their prayers are very important to them, and we respect all they do.”
It’s not all Fijian magic which will be on show on the weekend, there will be a sprinkling of Redmen players including NSW Country representative Ed McGrath and young guns Reilly Lawrence-King and Jayden Pulis.
