Thursday cover: Here comes Dubai Rugby Sevens

The National's Sport cover for the Thursday, December 4, featuring the start to Dubai Rugby Sevens, beginning today with the amateur events.

The National’s Sport cover for the Thursday, December 4 issue, featuring the start to Dubai Rugby Sevens today with the beginning of the amateur events.

In the build-up coverage to the weekend, Paul Radley profiles the curious exodus of Fijian rugby players to Sri Lanka, a lesser rugby nation but one that which, crucially, can offer better money.

The reality, he writes, is:

“Sri Lanka can lay claim to being one of Asia’s leading rugby nations, after Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong.

“But they cannot match Fiji’s contribution to the sport on a global scale.

“The first genuine icon of rugby sevens, Waisale Serevi, says his compatriots have every right to put their livelihood ahead of national duty.

“‘We don’t have a lot of sponsors in Fiji and that is why a lot of players have gone to Sri Lanka, where there is not a lot of rugby’, Serevi said.

“‘Financially, it is much better for them, because it is much quicker and easier for them to get out of Fiji’.”

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