Fiji's rugby league bosses are hoping tomorrow's match with the Newcastle Knights is the start of a fuller and more meaningful international calendar.
The Fiji Residents team play the Knights in Newcastle before ending their tour against a New South Wales Country selection next weekend.
Vinnie Wylie reports.
"The General Manager of Fiji National Rugby League, Steve McLennan, says the chance to play against an NRL side is a huge opportunity for the local Fijian players to test themselves against top professionals. But he says the sport's development wont kick on unless games such as this become a regular occurrence. We're trying to put things in the calendar - but not just sort of one-off things - so that we've got some certainly for a couple of years in advance. We've got a test match against Samoa on the 17th of June so this game - it's a great start for us - we've just got to finalise the dates for the PNG. We've got an invite to go to France, with out Bati, in late October. They're things that are in the pipeline at the moment but a lot of it will come back to funding unfortunately. Steve McLennan says he's also hopeful some form of Pacific Series can be revived once the administration in Papua New Guinea has stabilised."
