Rugby is known to be the heartbeat of Fiji and it has also changed the lives of about 90 percent of the unemployed youth in the Newtown Rugby Club in Nasinu who are now playing and working in Australia.
Late last year, the Newtown Rugby Union committee came up with an idea on how they can expose their hidden talents outside Fiji.
Inspired by Olympic Gold Medalist Jerry Tuwai, the committee then arranged a package deal with local sevens tournament organisers in Australia and farm owners to get as many young men as they can to work and play for six months.
Newtown Rugby President Tevita Kope says they managed to take 36 young men over to Australia.
Kope adds it has been a joy watching their hard work being paid off with around 30 percent of the players having young families back in Newtown.
He said that earlier this week, they sent 30 players to Darwin to work at a farm.
Kope believes that this movement will change how people look at the Newtown community.
The Newtown 7s team left earlier last month and played in a number of sevens tournaments including the Central Coast 7s, Noosa 7s and Byron Bay 7s.
Kope also says that three of his players have been having talks with some Rugby League clubs but nothing has been confirmed as yet.
The first batch of players are expected to be back in Fiji in February.
Their next batch of players are expected to attend a sevens tournament in Hawaii and Las Vegas next year.
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