Fiji Rugby prepares to level up with Nations Championship inclusion

Fiji may have sacrificed significant home-ground advantage but inclusion in next year’s Nations Championship will be “transformational” for the Pacific island rugby nation.

The Flying Fijians were one of 12 countries invited to take part in the new biennial tournament, held across both hemispheres.

They will join Japan, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina from the south, while the northern teams are Six Nations sides, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales.

Fiji are the only country who won’t play at home with the country’s major rugby stadium in Suva not meeting competition requirements.

Instead, their “home” games against Wales, England and Scotland are set to be played in the UK.

The Fijians hosted – and defeated – Scotland in a Test match in July, with the visitors struggling in the tropical heat in front of a raucous full house of around 12,000.

But demands from the Nations Championship require a 25,000-seat stadium with almost half of that under cover, while the viability of hosting, including ticket sales and corporate support, was factored in.

Fiji Rugby chairman John Sanday told AAP that while playing at home would have been ideal, they were willing to cede to competition requirements, with the games bringing in a substantial windfall.

“Whilst we were disappointed that we would not be able to host the game here, the economic benefits that would accrue from our home games being hosted in the UK and elsewhere just outweighed every emotion that accompanied the need or the thought to have it hosted here,” Sanday said.

“We would just never be able to have the economic windfall that we would have had we hosted it here.

“It’s actually a transformational opportunity for us – never before in our history have we been able to have this kind of revenue… which we can then invest back into our facilities and high performance.

“We’re just happy that we’re part of the Nations Championship because it’s a good runway in for our preparations for the Rugby World Cup in Australia 2027, but also it offers us a huge opportunity.”

With many of their stars based in the UK and France, Sanday said northern hemisphere matches would limit the travel time for those players as opposed to preparing and playing in Fiji.

Sanday said the money would be used to improve training facilities at HFC Bank Stadium, where their Super Rugby Pacific side Fijian Drua also train and play.

The long-term plan is that the ground will be redeveloped to regularly host Test matches by 2030.

Before that the world No.8-ranked hoped to play home and away against the Wallabies and Japan.

“We’re negotiating with Japan Rugby and we’re negotiating annual Test matches with Rugby Australia,” the former Fiji forward said.

“I think that’s something that would be after the World Cup, but in saying that there’s an arrangement now in place where we have an annual away-and-home game with the Wallaroos.

“So we want to then sort of see if we can replicate the same for the men’s and that’s a conversation that is ongoing.”