31 applicants for Flying Fijians head coach’s job

The process to select a Flying Fijians head coach is now underway.This was confirmed yesterday to SUNsports by Fiji Rugby Union chief executive officer Koli Sewabu.

“A total of 31 applications were received by the Fiji Rugby Union for the position of Flying Fijians head coach,” he said.

“Shortlisting commences this week, followed by interviews. The announcement will follow after consultation with key stakeholders and the final approval will come from our board.”

The successful candidate will be contracted for 14 months, covering next year’s Rugby World Cup (RWC) in Australia, and will report to General Manager High Performance Nacani Cawanibuka.

Performance will be assessed based on results against Tier 1 nations, progress beyond the World Cup pool stage and improvement in Fiji’s World Rugby ranking in 2027.

The position was advertised on August 22, following FRU’s decision to part ways with Mick Byrne on April 1. Senirusi Seruvakula subsequently took over as interim head coach.Under Seruvakula’s watch the Flying Fijians lost to Tier One nations Wales, England and Scotland during the inaugural Nations Championship in the United Kingdom in July.Then they beat Canada 45-29 in their Pacific Nations Cup semi-final in Osaka, Japan, before losing 25-20 to Japan in the final last Saturday night. This resulted in Fiji moving down from ninth to 10th in the latest World Rugby rankings.For the past year, French Top 14 coaches Laurent Travers and Franck Azema have been linked to the Flying Fijians head coach’s job but nothing had eventuated.Also, former Springboks head coach Heyneke Meyer had applied for Flying Fijians head coach’s post in 2023 where he was short-listed but the job was given to Byrne.Recently, former England prop and forwards coach Graham Rowntree visited the Flying Fijians in Tokyo as he now coaches Japanese club Urayasu D-Rocks.