Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

A level five grassroots club in England have just recruited veteran Fijian Akapusi Qera

By Online Editors
(Photo By Sam Barnes/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Veteran Fijian Akapusi Qera has pitched up at level five in England as the new player-coach of Midlands Premier club Newport Salop. The 36-year-old had spent the past two seasons at Championship side Hartpury.

ADVERTISEMENT

Capped 64 times by his country in a 13-year Test career that saw him skipper them at the 2015 World Cup and bring the curtain down with a 2018 appearance versus Tonga, Qera has enjoyed a reputable club career on the European scene. 

Impressive performances with Pertemps Bees resulted in a switch to the Premiership in 2007 and he went on to spend six-and-a-half seasons at Gloucester before half a season at Toulouse preceded three seasons at Montpellier and one more at Agen. 

Video Spacer

Win £5,000 for your local rugby club courtesy of Budgy Smuggler

Video Spacer

Win £5,000 for your local rugby club courtesy of Budgy Smuggler

He returned to England in 2018, hooking up with second-tier Hartpury, and he now takes on a dual role at grassroots Newport who last season finished third in the Midlands Premier, 24 points behind table-topping Bournville despite 14 wins in 19 matches. 

The recruitment of Qera is the latest boost for the Shropshire-based club who recently raised £200,000 to secure its future at the Old Showground. The club paid an upfront lease premium that ensures it can stay for the next 99 years and use the ground rent-free. 

Club chairman Peter Maher told the Shropshire Star: “We are delighted that the deal has now been completed. Securing a long term arrangement at the Old Showground is crucial to the survival and development of the club.

“It has been a mammoth effort by many in the club over a number of years to raise the lease premium through fundraising events, donations and a debenture scheme.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Although current activities had been curtailed by Covid-19, now that the club’s position is secure, the town can look forward with confidence that we will continue to improve the club’s facilities and provide an opportunity for the Newport community to enjoy everything the club has to offer both on and off the pitch.”

 

ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Dean Richards set for return to rugby management Dean Richards set for return to rugby management
Search