Rugby coach focuses on fitness, positioning

Coach Viliame Kaitabu, standing left, joins CNMI rugby players and their supporters for a group photo before their training session at the CPA Airport Field last Tuesday. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

With less than five months before the 2017 Pacific Mini Games kickoff, CNMI Rugby Team coach Viliame Kaitabu is working on the squad’s fitness and the players’ positioning.

“We will be playing for only seven minutes in each half, but it will be a fast game so fitness is very crucial. Speed and strength are very important,” said Kaitabu, who is from Fiji where the sport thrives.

To get the 20-man pool trying out to gain slots on the CNMI Rugby Team in top shape, players are doing weight training at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium and also run along the Beach Road Pathway twice a week. The pool also holds practices every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at the CPA Airport Field with Kaitabu facilitating defensive and offensive plays to give the players a better understanding of their positions at the field.

Rugby sevens is played with three forwards (two props and one hooker) and four backs (scrum half, fly half, center, and wing) per each team.

“Every player has a different role on the field, but their movements should work together to be able to make things happen for the team so it is very important for our players to be at the right position at the right time. They have to master their position so we can executive our plays well,” Kaitabu explained.

The coach added that the tournament in Guam later this month will give the players the chance to play their roles and also allow him to evaluate each player’s performance. The team will compete in the 2017 Heineken Guam Rugby Sevens that will be held on Aug. 26 and 27 at the University of Guam.

“It will be a very good learning experience for us. We will be able to see what are we doing wrong or right and when we get back, we will be able to make the adjustments,” Kaitabu said.

“I know we have only a few months left before the competition in the Mini Games, but we can’t rush things. We have to do to things step by step and one of the steps we have to take is to compete in Guam and see how the team fares with other squads and then work on improvements or correct our mistakes,” he added.

The Mini Games will be held from Dec. 4 to 15 in Vanuatu with the CNMI allowed to field a 12-man rugby team plus coaches and officials. The Commonwealth is one of the 13 countries that committed to play in rugby sevens and it will be the first time in nearly two decades that the CNMI is fielding a squad in the competition.

“Hopefully, our participation in the Mini Games will spark interest in the sport in the CNMI. I believe our athletes are capable of competing against other countries in rugby sevens and we just have to start somewhere to revive the sport here,” Northern Marianas Rugy Union president Stanley Iakopo said.