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Drua Foundation builds rugby pathways in Fiji, keeping talent on the island and supporting Fijian Drua’s long-term place in Super Rugby Pacific.

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Over many years many of the most talented young Fijian born and raised boys have left the island for: <ul><li style="text-align: justify;">High schools offshore</li><li style="text-align: justify;">France to clubs to qualify as JIFFE (French trained and therefore qualified to play for France and not count on the overseas quota) </li><li style="text-align: justify;">NRL age grade teams  </li></ul>Many don’t return. Some do having “failed” but often drop out of rugby.  The need is to construct a program that will largely significantly reduce this leakage within the next three years.   To address this we will create an on-island Academy that allows young Fijian players to stay on the island and still have a clear route to a career in professional full-time rugby via the Fijian Drua&#39;s ongoing competitive participation within the Super Rugby competition played within Australia. <ul><li style="text-align: justify;">Three age groups when completely populated, all recruited from Fijian high schools </li><li style="text-align: justify;">Rising U16, U17 and U18 cohorts of approx. 30 boys each for tuition between November and March </li><li style="text-align: justify;">Six sessions per age group run by Drua high performance staff  </li><li style="text-align: justify;">Focus on individual improvement - nutrition, positional and core skills, conditioning, etc</li><li style="text-align: justify;">All boys receive payment, kit, Drua season tickets and continue to play for their school  </li><li style="text-align: justify;">Opportunity to transition into Drua Development Squad for a certain number of Academy graduates and into the FRU High Performance Unit </li></ul> Over time this will significantly improve the quality of the Drua and reduce the loss of talent overseas, further facilitating the competitiveness of the Drua within the Super Rugby competition. To fully implement this programme it will cost approximately $250k annually. Once in place, the next evolution will be to improve conditioning and medical provision in high schools and introduce a similar programme for girls so that Drua women are afforded the same development and pathway opportunities.

Drua Academy Project