The Jet Volume 7 Number 16

OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2015. ISSUE 75 www.thejetnewspaper.com

Ba Wins Miss Fiji

The Telecom Fiji Limited sponsored Miss Fiji Pageant was the first ever National Pageant that was hosted in Nadi.

The week long pageant had contestants from different towns and cities around Fiji competing for the Miss Fiji title.

The winner would represent

FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

By MARGARET NAQIRIthe country for the Miss South Pacific Pageant.

This would be held in Raro-tonga in the Cook Islands in De-cember, 2015.

Ba lass, 21 year old Zaira Begg was crowned TFL Miss Fiji by Chief guest Attorney-General and Finance Minister, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum at Prince Charles Park in Nadi last week Saturday.

Miss Begg was very emotional and said that she was proud to

represent her hometown Ba and now she will be representing Fiji in Rarotonga.

“I’ve brought Ba to this stage and I am proud to represent Ba on this stage,” she said.

Zaira is a dancer and also models part time.

During her school days she struggled to earn money for school by selling mussels and mangoes on the road side. She said that all her struggles had

paid off.“I will be representing Fiji in

Rarotonga and I’ll do my very best to take Fiji to another level.”

Miss Ba also walked away with the best traditional attire, best talent and best research topic awards.

Miss Suva took the awards for first runner up, Miss photogenic, best sarong and most favourite contestant.

Miss Nausori takes second

runner up while Miss Sigatoka takes third runner up and best internet category.

Miss Levuka takes fourth run-ner up, Miss Tavua wins Miss Personality, Miss Lautoka won the National Tourism Award and Miss Nadi won the Miss People’s Choice Award.

Newly crowned Miss Fiji Zaira Begg will represent Fiji at the Miss South Pacific Pageant in the Cook Islands in December.

Winners of the TFL Miss Fiji 2015 Pageant from left third runner up Miss Sigatoka Adele Lingam, second runner up Miss Nausori Sheryl Mudaliar, Miss Fiji 2015 Zaira Begg from Ba, fourth runner up Miss Levuka Olivia Vakadranu and first runner up Miss Suva Marie Fall. Photo: SERELISONI MOCEICA.

www.thejetnewspaper.com www.epapergallery.com/thejet

THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER2

FROM THE DESK

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

“Fiji - the way the world should be”“ Being the hub of the Pacific, Fiji has everything that a spectacular tropical paradise has to offer - from private island resort accommodations, top class restaurants to white sandy beaches, inbound tours, jet boat rides, hot air balloon rides, mountain trekking, inland tours, eco tourism, sky diving, helicopter rides, cruise trips, scuba diving, massage and beauty parlours, vibrant night life and a

lot more than any other destination in the world offers ”

q CHARLES CHAMBERS

THE JET is Fiji’s first community newspaper published bi-monthly by YOURSPACE LIMITED from Nadi - the tourism capital of Fiji.

PUBLISHER : SAMUEL SHANKAR Cell: 9966115EDITOR/ NEWS : CHARLES CHAMBERS Cell: 9973290PRODUCTION : WILSON GOUNDER Cell: 9675939NEWS : SERELISONI MOCEICA Cell: 8317022 : KATHRIN KRISHNA Cell: 8425101ADVERTISING : MARGARET NAQIRI Cell: 9360047 : NAVINESH KRISHNA Cell: 8356609 OFFICE PHONES : 6707075 / 6750443EMAIL : [email protected] : [email protected]

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Airline Upgrades Business Class Our Flying Fijians have

done us proud.They have been the talk

of the town, around the tanoa, at the market stalls, in the streets, in the bus, practically everywhere.

They have united a country that has dragged through issues such as pol-itics, gender differences, rape, murders and even recently, suicides.

The FRU is brimming with pride after our boys, under the guidance of coach John McKee and his team, displayed exception-al skills that we can surely say is on par with Tier One teams.

But the boys are back to their clubs, locally and internationally, and life has gone on as usual.

Where to from here?The FRU would do good

to quickly extend the con-tract of our knight in shin-ing armour, McKee and his team.

Fiji The BraveFor it has been pure

pleasure watching Fijian fifteens rugby immensely improve from what once was sloppy, disorganized and slow.

Mckee has achieved his goals and that has taken Fiji rugby to an unprec-edented level where our players have risen above the mass of humanity.

Imagine what could happen under his leader-ship within the next four years.

Imagine the Flying Fiji-ans all set in their glory to hoist the infamous Rugby World Cup.

And from the display of rugby that we have seen from our boys, it is a dream that could eventually come true.

So come on, FRU what are you waiting for?

Fiji’s National Airline, Fiji Airways will upgrade its B737 Business Class En-tertainment by providing an iPad each to the guests to use during flights.

The introduction of the iPads, to begin from No-vember 1, will enable the guests to experience more in flight movies and TV shows; advertising sports for all in flight video screen soon.

Pre-loaded movies, TV shows and music will be available as part of the in-flight entertainment (IFE) upgrade whereby the guests would be able to choose from a total of 23 movies, 19 television shows and a range of mu-sic.

Fiji Airways acting CEO, David Bowden said that now the guests would be able to enjoy their flights with entertainment and

this enhancement in the entertainment section would put Fiji Airways amongst established world-class boutique air-line.

“This is an exciting prod-uct upgrade for Business Class guests on our B737 fleet, and will offer them convenience and choices we haven’t been able to offer before on this aircraft type,” said David Bowden

“Fiji Airways is stepping up its content game with a creative approach that is on par with other leading airlines,” said Amir Sam-nani, Senior Vice President of Content Services for Global Eagle. “Both Fiji Air-ways and Global Eagle are committed to a whole new level of content delivery and game-changing inno-vations focused on provid-ing the very best passenger experience,” he added.

“This new audio-visual enhancement will be an on-demand service, in-

Bazaar Raises over $107,000

By Kathrin Krishna

By Charles Chambers

clude the latest movies and TV shows along with the classics. Coupled with our award winning inflight service, wines, and menu designed by Chef Lance Seeto, we can now bring the B737 Business Class experience to par with that of our A330s,” concluded Mr. Bowden.

The Airline has signed an agreement with Global Eagle Entertainment Inc., (GEE) for online provision

for movies, TV shows and for in flight video advertis-ing on both aircrafts (B737s and A330s).

The B737 fleet operates on flights to/from Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands and by 2016, Fiji Airways aims to increase the onboard en-tertainment selection on the iPad by offering over 100 hours of in flight enter-tainment.

The Lautoka Catholic community celebrated their record breaking fundraising fete this year.

The annual bazaar, which attracts many former parishners back to Lautoka raised over $107,000 to sur-pass other records.

A sea of colours, merry-making and food stalls en-gulfed St Thomas Primary School last weekend.

The annual bazaar for Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Parish was held at the St Thomas Primary School grounds in Lautoka.

This year’s bazaar was also significant in a sense that the committee decid-ed to have it over two days, as the previous one day festivity.

The money was raised by the 16 communities that make up the parish of Lautoka through their in-dividual efforts throughout the year.

The annual fete always attracts former parishners from around the country and overseas and also for-mer students of St Thomas

Primary and secondary Schools.

This year a queen con-test was also organized along with competitions amongst the communities for dances and stall deco-rations.

According to Mr Seba, the chairman of the or-ganizing committee the money raised would go to-wards the extension of the present church building.

The bazaar culminated with an open air mass on Sunday followed a get-to-gether lunch for the parish-ners at the school grounds.

Women of the Community of St Jude during the Lautoka Parish Catholic Bazaar last weekend. Photo by Lautoka Parish facebook

Fiji Airways Business Class. Photo by Fiji Airways


THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 3



LOCAL NEWS

INTERCONTINENTAL FIJI INSPIRES

The repainting of Malo-malo Primary School, the provision of academic books, sports equipment and school desks and chairs are just some of the projects that the InterConti-nental’s Insider Community programme undertakes for the Natadola community.

Six schools within the area continue to benefit from Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events (MICE) hosted by the Inter-Continental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa.

A statement from the Re-sort said the projects pro-vided students with access

to necessary resources for a well rounded educa-tion and “to encourage a healthy lifestyle for the next generation”.

“From enhancing the learning environments in our local schools to pre-serving the health of our reefs and even participat-ing in Fijian Master Cook-ing classes, our ‘Insider Collection’ allows business delegates authentic mem-orable Fijian experiences with a real sense of com-munity service,” said David Pearson, Director MICE at the InterContinental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa.

The MICE groups for 2015 have increased both locally and internationally

due to the collaborative ef-fort of the InterContinental Fiji Meetings team.

InterContinental Fiji provide an ‘In The Know’ weekly activity program that is available during the school term for delegates and guests to visit Maloma-lo Primary School to see the results of their efforts and give guests an oppor-tunity to meet the children and teachers, and witness village life.

“The Malomalo Primary School Visit is one of the recommended ‘In The Know’ experiences of-fered at the resort and it’s always wonderful to see our guests actively engag-ing with our projects or

Residents of Ledrusasa in Votualevu, Nadi are now looking forward to better days with proper roofing over their heads.

Their delight stemmed from the first stage of de-velopment of land that would cater for a new housing project initiated by Government.

Minister for Local Gov-ernment and Housing Parveen Kumar officiated as the chief guest for the groundbreaking ceremony in the village.

Speaking at the cer-emony, Kumar promised the residents better hous-ing facilities for all.

“The project is targeted to have 78 residential lots, an open space and a civic or religious lot,” he said.

“Upon completion, 78 eligible tenants or 390 people will have access to fully serviced housing lots

Literacy for Everyonewith 99 years residential leases,” he added.

Resident Azlim Ali said this initiative from the gov-ernment shows what all they can deliver to the citi-zens.

“I thank the government for all they have done for us and people in this set-tlement have been blessed with what you have pro-vided them and I thank the government for giving us more than what we had asked for,” he said.

Turaga Na Mataqali Ya-vusasivo, Saunaka Isaia Saukuru said the villagers had gone through a tough phase in life before this ini-tiative by the government was taken.

“When they came here the first day they were crying and now what the government has done has brought smiles to their face,” he said.

“Their lease expired 15 years ago and at the same time we had the other vic-tims who had been mov-

ing around Fiji looking for a place to settle in”.

“A lot of problems were faced from the different tikina’s especially from the western division”.

“I was able to give them land but most of them did not have enough money to buy the land but I didn’t chase them out from here because I knew that one day something like this will happened,” he added.

“I thank the government for this assistance and I am very happy as a land owner that something like this for the first time ever is been done here in my land”.

“My advice to other landowners is for them to work together and build our country Fiji”.

The project is expected to be completed by Au-gust, 2016.

By SERELESONI MOCEICA

By SERELISONI MOCEICA

initiating their own to as-sist our efforts to create a brighter future for the Nat-adola Bay communities,” said Erik Stuebe, Area Gen-eral Manager South Pacific at the InterContinental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa.

The statement said

many groups have also engaged in team building efforts and connected with the community through the Resort’s “Insider Col-lection” which is a range of services that also benefit-ted the local community.

More development proj-

ects are in the pipeline, all aimed at continuously developing education and supporting schools in the Natadola Bay area along-side the resort’s Commu-nity Care Fund.

Churchill Park’s new facelift with an inter-national standard athletics track is on track with major ground works still ongoing as the park is being targeted as the next year’s ven-ue for the Coca Cola Games.

Lautoka Development

Women from the west have invaded Suva with their artisan skills. They were part of the National Women’s Expo 2015 which was held in Suva from October 14 – 16.

West for Expo

In a congratulatory message, Minister for Youth and Sports Laisenia Tuitubou said the country was proud of the overall perfor-mance of the team and thanked the coach-ing team headed by JohnMcKee for elevat-ing the standard of Fijian rugby.

Tuitubou Praises Fly-ing Fijians

A man and his wife are at a restaurant, and the husband keeps staring at an old drunken lady swig-ging her gin at a nearby table. His wife asks, “Do you know her?” “Yes,” sighs the husband. “She’s my ex-wife. She took to drinking right after we di-vorced seven years ago, and I hear she hasn’t been sober since.” “My God!” says the wife. “Who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?”

Two men are sitting next to each other in an Irish-style pub in New York City and both order pints of Guinness. One of them turns to the other and asks, “So where are you from?”

“I’m from Ireland.””Me too! I’ll drink to that.”

They both finish their pints and order two more.

“Where in Ireland are you from?””Dublin.””Me too! I’ll drink to that.”


“Where in Dublin are you from?” “The East Side.” “The East Side? Me too! What a coincidence! I’ll drink to that!”


“Where on the East Side are you from?” “McDonagh Street.””Me too! This is in-credible! I’ll drink to that.”

As the bartender pours them another two pints, another customer at the bar says to him, “That’s amazing! I can’t believe they’re from the same street in Dublin. What’s go-ing on?”

“Oh, it’s nothing amaz-ing,” says the bartender.”It’s just the Ferguson twins get-ting sloshed again.”

After an elderly cou-ple starts getting forget-ful, they visit their doctor. Their doctor tells them that many people find it useful to write themselves little notes. When they get home, the wife says, “Dear, will you please go to the kitchen and get me a dish of ice cream? And maybe write that down so you won’t forget?”

“Nonsense,” says the husband. “I can remember a dish of ice cream.”

“Well, I’d also like some strawberries and whipped cream on it,” the wife re-plies.

“My memory’s not all that bad,” says the hus-band. “No problem -- a dish of ice cream with strawberries and whipped cream. I don’t need to write it down.”

He goes into the kitch-en, and his wife hears pots and pans banging. The husband finally emerges from the kitchen and pres-ents his wife with a plate of bacon and eggs.

She looks at the plate and asks, “Hey, where’s the toast I asked for?”

To surprise her hus-band, an executive’s wife stopped by his office. When she opened the door, she found him with his secretary sitting in his lap. Without hesitating, he dictated, “And in conclu-sion, gentlemen, budget cuts or no budget cuts, I cannot continue to oper-ate this office with just one chair.”

“They call my husband ‘The Exorcist.’”

“Why?”“As soon as he gets to

a party, he rids it of all the spirits.”

Make My Day

Elated students of Malomalo Primary School Pic- Intercontinental

Residents of Ledrusasa with Minister for Local Government and Housing Parveen Kumar after the groundbreaking ceremony. Photo by Kathrin Krishna



LOCAL NEWS

Fish Waste Fertiliser Game Changer

Fish waste with locally produced liquid organic fertilizer will soon be-come the next big thing in the agricultural sector. According to entrepre-neur, Donald Pickering the fertiliser’s non chemi-cal properties are soil enriching and could very well be a potential game changer for farmers.

Mr Pickering who is also Chairman of the Fiji Organic Association, has been successfully trialing the fish waste fertiliser project for three years, technically and partially funded and supported by the European Union Increasing Agriculture Commodity Trade (EU IACT).

The project is facili-tated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, European Union Increas-

ing Agriculture Commod-ity Trade (SPC EU IACT).

Backed by research and tested use of the or-ganic soil stimulant, Mr Pickering says the value-added, unrefined fish waste-turned soil en-hancer “can help over-come serious soil defi-ciency issues.”

He said it has received positive feedback from trialists such as Nadi Bay Herbs, Sabeto Organic Pawpaw Association and other farmers that are currently experiencing le-thargic soil including the Wakaya Resort with their commercial-oriented or-ganic ginger farms.

“The response from participating farmers has been extremely positive. As well as delivering the desired results, farmers find our liquid product easier to apply than tradi-tional fertilisers, whether from a backpack spray,

Sigatoka Concen-

trates on New Goals

To raise awareness around the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UN Women and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Fiji partnered with Sigatoka Town Coun-cil to hold the Community Social Good Summit fea-turing the Continuing Mar-ket Business Education (CMBE) for market ven-dors as part of the Markets for Change project.

Themed at “New Goals, New power, New tech-nology,” the Community Social Good Summit in Si-gatoka discussed on SDGs and how new technol-ogy had improved our lives and our communities.

CEO of Sigatoka Town Council Tulsi Ram at the opening said that this ini-tiative would benefit the residents in Nadroga.

“We are honored to host this Community So-cial Good Summit with UN Women and UNDP. It is to improve the standard of living of the people of Nad-roga and Navosa by work-ing together and achieving SDGs.” Said Mr Ram.

UN Women’s Represen-tative Ms. Aleta Miller dis-cussed the importance of gender equality.

“The importance of gen-der equality for sustainable

development goes beyond goal five, which specifi-cally calls for the achieve-ment of gender equality and women’s empower-ment.”

“We cannot achieve any of the global goals without addressing the existing inequality, discrimination and violence that women across the world face ev-ery day,” she said.

“Women’s knowledge and skill will also be criti-cal in finding creative and sustainable solutions to achieve the SDGs across the board.”

“This makes the newly approved global goals an exciting opportunity for the global community to renew its commitment to gender equality and to take bold and specific action to achieve it,” she said.

The summit in Sigatoka has provided a forum for the market vendors and the local citizens to learn more about technology which could help them achieve global goals.

The Community So-cial Good Summit in Si-gatoka also provided fo-rum for local citizens and market vendors to know more about mobile tech-nology and discuss how it would contribute to their business, wellbeing and achieving the Global Goals.


DHL Strengthens Community Ties

DHL employees in Fiji displayed commitment to strengthening their local community ties as part of Global Volunteer Day 2015.

DHL Express as part of Deutsche Post DHL Group, the world’s leading postal and logistics group, dis-played their commitment to strengthening their lo-cal communities with 30 employees taking part in renovations of a school in a global drive to give back to local communities and to instill a spirit of volun-teerism among employees.

“The Nadi DHL Team got together on Saturday and as part of the Global Volunteer Day we painted the kindergarten’s class-room, benches and chairs, “DHL Operation Manager Nilesh Chand said.

“We also removed old school fence and set up new ones,” he said.

Head Teacher Masimasi Kindergarten Ravinesh Narayan said the school was proud of the services that DHL has rendered for school improvements and upgrade.

He paid tribute to DHL

and its band of volunteers. All the stakeholders,

the school management, Ministry Of Education, parents, teachers and stu-dents were delighted to see a bright kindergarten and school benches for children resting and other

repairs and upgrade for the School .

“You have added colour to our institution and we the stakeholders of Masi-masi Primary School and kindergarten thank you whole heartedly for the

By CHARLES CHAMBERS

Don Pickering inspecting new equipment at his factory. Pic - Pacific Reach Limited

Elated students of Malomalo Primary School Pic- Intercontinental

side dresser, or as a soil drench.”

Local farmers aside, Mr Pickering says that a liquid organic fertiliser in-dustry could benefit Fiji’s Agriculture sector.

“The potential for growth at home and re-gionally is huge, and we plan to distribute the product through hard-ware stores and garden supply outlets for the home gardener.”

For now, Mr Pickering operates out of a factory in Wailada, Lami, located proximate to his fish pro-cessing suppliers.

The International Trade Centre (ITC) is facilitating the development of the FCLC Secretariat with funds provided by the European Union through its Improvement of Key Services to Agriculture (IKSA) Programme

By Kathrin Krishna

effort that DHL has ren-dered<” Mr Narayan said.

Introduced in Asia Pa-cific in 2008, Volunteer Day soon expanded into the Americas,

Middle East, Africa and Europe and continues to build on its success by in-volving more

employees than ever before.

Now a global, Group-wide program, in 2013 the initiative was rolled out as a year-long program and

was a tremendous suc-cess. In 2014, more than 108,000 employees took part in some 1,700 projects in 117 countries around the world.

As part of Global Volun-teer Day 2015, Deutsche Post DHL Group offices around the world are par-ticipating in a variety of community projects in support of various local causes.

DHL workers fix a bench at the school. Picture supplied by DHL



LOCAL NEWS

West showcases at National Women’s Expo

Women from the west have invaded Suva with their artisan skills.

They were part of the National Women’s Expo 2015 which was held in Suva from October 14 – 16.

The women had been preparing for some time for the expo where they showcased their artisan skills

The event was held at the Vodafone Arena in Suva and was organised by the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alle-viation in partnership with local sponsors.

Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Al-leviation Hon. Rosy Akbar said the Expo provided an opportunity for 600 wom-en artisans to showcase their skills and talent at the Expo.

Minister Akbar made these comments while speaking at the official ground breaking ceremo-ny for the new Women’s Development Centre in Ba

By Charles Chambers last week.She said the ministry in

partnership with the Fiji Arts Council, Ministry of Health and Ministry of In-dustry had selected these women artisans.

“Apart from 600 who had been selected by the divisional craft shows we have given 50 more wom-en vendors and artisans the opportunity to partici-pate in the National Wom-en’s Expo 2015,” Ms Akbar.

“This year’s theme, “Connecting Women to Markets: Make it Happen,” has motivated them to fo-cus on the quality of their products to get a better value of their hard work,” Ms Akbar said.

She said she expected to see a wide range of products.

“The Ministry in part-nership with Westpac Fiji has also organised finan-cial literacy trainings for all the women artisans, likewise there will be vari-ous other capacity building workshops available for enhanced learning at the Expo,” Minister Akbar said.

The members of the Ba

Women’s Forum were also represented at this year’s National Women’s Expo.

Dr Maria Doton, presi-dent of Ba Women’s Forum said that women had pre-pared their products which

were sold at the Expo.Dr Doton said there

were 18 different ranges of products and this included handicrafts, contemporary art, ladies fashion wears home-made food items

and many more. Last week the Ministry

had also organised a qual-ity control workshop for women who had been se-lected to participate in the Expo.

Ms Akbar said the minis-try had encouraged wom-en to strive for the quality, creativity and packaging of the products that was sold at the Expo.

Minister Rosy Akbar with Dr Maria Doton. Photo SUPPLIED

Six new luxury coaches were introduced by Tour-ism Transport Fiji to cater for the increasing number of tourists visiting Fiji.

The investment is close to $2 million and the new coaches would provide transport services to Suva, Denarau and Lautoka re-spectively.

Brad Rutherford, the group manager said that the introduction of these new coaches would help in providing better services to the tourists.

“This coach is fitted with 28 business class seats and luxury finishing for unmatched and unri-

valled level of comfort and space,” he said.

Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism Fai-yazKoya said TTF has set a standard in the tourism sector therefore this invest-ment would be beneficial both to the economy and the tourists.

“TTF has set high stan-dards in the tourism indus-try,” he said.

“Transportation is an in-tegral part of tourism and has two main functions-the means of tourist dis-placement from origin to destination and attractions and services to the tourist.

TTF has also launched a new logo which highlight-ing TTF’s commitment for future expansion.

By Kathrin Krishna Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism Faiyaz Koya with the staff of TTF at the launch. Photo SUPPLIED

Six New Coaches for TTF

Daniel Urai is still the

General Secretary for the

National Union of Hospital-

ity, Catering and Tourism

Industries Employees.

This is after the veteran

unionist won his union

elections by a massive 775

votes out of 1070. His op-

ponent, Mereani Qoro re-

trieved 285 votes.

The election was the

second one held for the

union after the first one

was declared null and void

due to a number of com-

plaints about voter regis-

tration.

Union members com-

plained about the disap-

pearance of their names

from the registered list

prompting Fijian Elections

Office Supervisor Moham-

med Saneem to quaran-

tine all ballot boxes.

The Supervisor has now

said the second two day

elections were conducted

at all polling stations and

counting was finalized at

Nadi’s Hexagon Hotel in

his presence.

A total of 1984 mem-

bers are registered from

38 properties under the

Union.

Mr Urai was elated with

the win and said this was

a positive indication of the

work he has done for his

members.

Urai Retains GS PositionBy SERELISONI MOCEICA

The unionist is also

the National Presi-

dent for the Fiji Trades

Union Congress which

is the umbrella body

for NUHCTIE and other

unions in the country.



HIGGINS SUPPLEMENT

Higgins our Heritage

By Charles Chambers

Blue Rock Quarries • Mobile Crushing • Aggregate Supplies • Rock Breakers • Beer Specialists

The art of crafting stone….

Hiigins has turned the facelook of roads leading to Nadi International Air-port into what could be de-scribed as matching to any country in the world.

The four lane traffic, al-most near completion, has vastly improved thye im-age of the airport as com-pared to that seen just over a year ago.

Added to this attraction are the street lighting and traffic lights at the airport junction.

Higgins Fiji secured the international gateway proj-ect to construct four lanes along the Queens Road in Nadi for the Fiji Roads Au-thority (FRA).

The FRA have con-tracted this road upgrade to improve the interna-tional gateway into and out of Fiji, decreasing travel times and relieving traffic

Higgins Excellence Shows in Road Upgrade

By Charles Chambers

congestion for both visitors and the local community.

The existing Queens Road is a heavily trafficked route and the road services about 15,000 vehicles per day.

The project runs from Naisoso through Nama-ka and terminates at the Wailoaloa junction, on the Western Side of Viti Levu – just north of Nadi town.

As the primary route to the airport, it is critical that works undertaken allow people to pass efficiently through the site, particular-ly those that need to catch international flights at Nadi International Airport.

As with the current maintenance contract in Fiji, a number of local sup-pliers and subcontractors will be used to deliver the work on Nadi N2, supple-menting the local Higgins Fiji team. This project will allow

Higgins plans to further extend the skills of local staff and continue their program of upskilling local

people to deliver local in-frastructure projects.

Higgins Fiji officially opened their new office in Nadi with a formal cer-emony attended by Fiji Prime Minister, Commo-dore Vereqe Bainimarama and the Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

Higgins Fiji is contracted to the Fijian government to provide road maintenance in the Western Division of Fiji for four years; a con-tract that commenced in January 2013. The cer-emony involved formal introductions, ceremonial offerings, Fijian dancing, a kava ceremony and a for-mal cutting of the ribbon.

The new office provides staff with a significantly im-proved facility. The official opening on the 12 June 2013 was attended by all 151 Higgins staff. The cer-emony was also attended by Higgins Chairman Sir Patrick Higgins, Managing Director Bernard Higgins and Higgins CEO David Geor.

Higgins grew from a small, contracting busi-ness established in the Manawatu by Irish immi-grant Dan Higgins. It is now a leading New Zealand civil construction contrac-tor with operations that include the manufacture and supply of materials to the construction industry.

Like all true pioneers, Dan’s arrival plan was to find his own slice of land in New Zealand and start farming. He initially found employment on others’ farms but the depression put a dent in any thoughts of owning his own.

With shovel in hand Dan took on any work he could find and eventually found employment with British Pavements.

Excelling in roading and drain-laying, he took these skills to Palmerston North. It was the mid-’50s and Dan set up his own drain-age and road repair busi-ness in loose partnership with others. Then, in 1958 eldest son Pat joined Dan

and Higgins was born.Over time, Higgins be-

came more of a family af-fair as sons Michael and Bernard joined during the ‘60s and ‘70s.

These two decades were a time of rapid ex-pansion as Higgins grew into the areas of civil con-struction, the manufacture and supply of aggregates, concrete and bitumen.

In addition, Higgins de-veloped expertise in pave-ment construction, spray sealing, asphalt paving, drainage, traffic manage-ment, road marking and road maintenance.

Over the last 50 years Higgins has been at the forefront of building New Zealand’s infrastructure and is now one of the lead-ing roading civil and road construction companies in the country.

Our support office is still in Palmerston North and Higgins now employs over 1200 people throughout New Zealand and in Fiji.



LOCAL NEWS

Nadi Hosts 5th Pacific Tuna Forum

Minister On Entrepreneurship

Running for Health and Wellness

The Pacific Nations need to take more strin-gent measures to control the over-fishing of tuna.

A recent forum in Nadi heard the continous fall in stocks of big eye and yel-low fin tuna in the region”s waters.

The 5th Pacific Tuna Fo-rum, held in Nadi recently included stakeholders from around the world.

At the forum, the stake-holders discussed sus-tainable management practices of Pacific tuna resources.

Fisheries Minister Osea Naigamu at the opening

The importance of youth entrepreneurship was yesterday emphasized to youths of Korovuto in Nadi during a workshop conducted by the Ministry of iTaukei Affairs.

While addressing close to 50 villagers of Korovuto, who were part of the ‘Sau-vaki ni Vanua’ workshop which sees the instilling and strengthening of tra-ditional iTaukei knowl-edge on young people, the Hon. Minister for Youth and Sports Laisenia Tuitu-bou spoke about the posi-tives of having successfully managed income generat-ing projects.

“Korovuto is a beautiful village and what is evident to all who pass by your vil-lage is the abundance of

Toning muscles, losing calories and keeping fit.

These are just some of the reasons why running needs to be prioritized in a person’s life according to former Fiji representa-tive to the South Pacific Games, Abhinesh Kumar.

The former long dis-tance running rep said his organisation, known as the Jet Runners Club is out to promote running as the ultimate way of maintain physical health.

“What better way to lose calories and also tone

said discussions would be done on ways to address tuna industry concerns.

“This conference for courses on tuna manage-ment issues in the Pacific region markets and mar-keting opportunities for tuna products. Internation-al freight and trade barri-ers, research and develop-ment of new tuna products and prospects for tuna in-dustry development,” said Naiqamu.

“We hear from our re-gional management orga-nization that big eyed tuna is at over-fished state and yellow fin tuna is now un-der threat.”

“I hope that through the presentation and discus-

By Kathrin Krishna

Dr Abdul Kunhimohamed (Director – Infofish) 2nd from left, with PNG’s Minister for Fisheries and Marine Resources, Mao Zeming and the Fisheries Minister Osea Naigamu at the opening of 5th Tuna Forum at Sofitel Resort. Photo: Kathrin Krishna



sion over the two days we will come up with appro-priate strategies and direc-tion that can lead towards addressing this concern,” he added.

PNG’s Minister for Fish-eries and Marine Resourc-es, Mao Zeming said that in comparison to the other countries, Pacific Island Countries have been con-sistent in managing the tuna resources in the Pa-cific.

“We also want to fish and develop our tuna in-dustries, we also want to establish viable fishing processing industry to pro-cess tuna. We have small economies with limited employment opportuni-

ties, but are surrounded by vast oceans and sustain-able tuna stock.”

“It is therefore impor-tant that the Pacific Islands be given that opportunity

to participate in the world economy through invest-ment fishing ventures and tuna processing facilities,” said Zeming.

One third of the world’s

Tuna supplied worldwide is supplied from the Pa-cific.

Tuna currently fetches a price of $3000 per tonne.

resources that are readily available to you and I wish to urge you to fully utilize your resources in order to venture successfully into income generating proj-ects,” Minister Tuitubou said.

“There are a number of youth clubs in the country that have gone further from their initial income gener-ating projects, which was government’s assistance to these youth clubs and they have identified ideal projects that are relevant to their locations which has ensured that income is always forthcoming.”

Minister Tuitubou also informed them of the min-istry’s programmes and services which were tar-geted at bolstering youth entrepreneurial initiatives and development.

“There are also success-ful youth groups around the country that have wise-ly managed their profits from their projects due to continuous collaboration with the ministry because we offer services and pro-grammes tailor made to suit your needs.

“The onus is on youths to come forward and uti-lize all these programmes in order to further the de-velopment of your com-munity as well as your youth group,” Minister Tui-tubou added.

Principal youth officer Western, Valami Naloga also stressed the crucial role youths played in the community.

“Young people are an integral part of the com-munity and you have a cru-cial role in community de-

velopment because in any sort of community devel-opment, youths are trusted to carry out these works,” Mr Naloga said.

Mr Naloga pointed out the importance of identi-fying sustainable income generating projects for youth clubs.

“These projects that you wish to undertake must be carefully thought out before you commit your-selves to it because your

projects must be economi-cally viable and sustain-able to ensure that your efforts do not go to waste because as future leaders government is hugely reli-ant on youths and we are committed to your devel-opment.”

Korovuto youth club member Ratu Meli Finau praised the ministry for looking after the wellbeing of all youths in the country.

“I wish to thank the

Hon. Minister for Youth and Sports and the ministry for showing firsthand the care taken by Government for youths of the country espe-cially for us here in Koro-vuto,” Mr Finau said.

“We look forward to working closely with the ministry in order to real-ize our goals for the youth group and set up an ideal income generating project to boost our youths devel-opment.”

muscles than getting your-self involved in running,” he said.

The Jet Runners Club has held a total of 64 races so far and Mr Kumar has urged everyone to sign themselves up for the next organised race.

“So far, most of the country’s long distance runners are based in the West and our club wants to challenge those athletes out in the other divisions to organise running compe-titions or come compete with our runners during one of our competitions.”

Mr Kumar said the club also had a few athletes from secondary schools

and even from rural areas.He said the last com-

petition was held in Serua where long distance run-ning enthusiasts partici-pated.

“We were pleasantly surprised by the number of unknowns that showed up and we plan to organise more of such rural compe-titions so we can get new people interested,” he said.

The club, based in Votu-alevu is headed by Mr Ku-mar and other former long distance runners.



LOCAL NEWS

Radisson ex-pands to Suva

The capital city is set to welcome in a famous hotel brand to its ever growing expansion.

The Park Inn by Radis-son Fiji Suva is the sec-ond Carlson Rezidor ho-tel in Fiji following the Radisson Blu Resort Fiji Denarau.

Carlson Rezidor Ho-tel Group, one of the world’s largest and most dynamic hotel groups, today announced the signing of the manage-ment contract with Fund Trust Joint Venture, set up by majority share-holder iTaukei Trust Fund and minority shareholder Methodist Church Hold-ings Trust.

This is the second Carlson Rezidor hotel in Fiji is also jointly owned by iTaukei Trust Fund, an investment entity estab-lished by the Fijian gov-ernment.

Park Inn by Radisson Fiji Suva is scheduled to open in the second quar-ter of 2018.

“We are excited to grow our partnership with iTaukei Trust Fund as we expand Carlson Rezidor’s presence in Australasia (Australia, New Zealand and the

Pacific Islands), begin-ning with Fiji’s capital of Suva, the hub for region-al businesses operating in the Pacific Islands,” said Thorsten Kirschke, president, Asia Pacific, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group.

“Park Inn by Radisson Fiji Suva underscores our renewed commit-ment to Australasia, which is a key sub-re-gion for Carlson Rezidor in Asia Pacific. To op-timize the potential of Australasia as an engine of growth, our dedicated Australasia development team is rolling out plans to introduce new brands to the market.”

Park Inn by Radisson Fiji Suva is the first Nex-Gen Park Inn by Radis-son hotel in Australasia and also the first inter-national midscale hotel in Suva. It is well posi-tioned to capture the corporate segment and the growing demand in the leisure travel seg-ment.

In the first quarter of this year, 380,870 tourists visited the Pacific Island countries, a 7.1% in-crease compared to the same period last year, with Fiji leading the pack with the lion’s share of 143,447 visitors[i]. Fiji’s

major tourism source markets include Austra-lia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Park Inn by Radisson Fiji Suva is a 130-key new build hotel located within walking distance of the main street, the wharf and the city’s main bus terminal.

The hotel is located close to shopping malls, offices, banks, the head-quarters of religious orga-nizations, the European Union office and many Non-Governmental Orga-nizations (NGOs).

The hotel is served by Nausori International Air-port, which is about 17km or a 30-minute drive away. As part of a mas-ter plan for the airport, a complete refurbishment exercise to upgrade the airport to a domestic and international air hub, is expected in the future.

Park Inn by Radisson Fiji Suva will have an all-day dining restaurant and a lounge. To cater to de-mand from the MICE seg-ment, the hotel’s meet-ings facilities will include a ballroom and meeting rooms. There will also be a fitness center and am-ple parking lots.

By Charles Chambers

By Kathrin Krishna

Nine Leave un-der Seasonal Work Scheme

It was a proud moment for the nine selected females as they departed our shores for a lifetime chance to travel to Australia under seasonal work scheme.

The females were selected by the employment sector to work at farms which would include fruit picking.

Pritika Dayal said she was very excited about the trip and she hoped things turned out for the better for her and her family.

“I am really excited about the trip and I look forward to getting more ex-perience so that I can earn for my family,” she said.

“This would actually be my first experience to go into the farm,” she add-ed.

The scheme covers for transportation, accommodation and meals for the workers.

The workers would return home after 6 months after which the next group of selected individuals would leave under the same scheme.

Thorston Kirschke, President Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group Asia Pacific. Photo Supplied

Eliki with designs he had painted outside the Nadi Library.Photo: MARGARET NAQIRI.Selected seasonal workers before departure at Nadi International Airport.

Photo: Kathrin Krishna



ADVENTURE

Standing on coconut tree-dotted Honeymoon Beach, toes in the sand and looking out over the Bligh Water, it’s difficult to avoid thinking about my collection of “stranded on a desert island” lists — fa-vorite books and music and foods to pass the time.

On the Yasawa Islands, however, the list is pretty simple: a hammock, some Fijian beer, picnic lunches and snorkel gear.

And, it turns out, a bag of kava.

In a world where “get-ting away from it all” often means Wi-Fi is a little slug-gish, hotel TV channels number less than 50, and the next resort is a short walk down the beach, fewer are the places of true, quiet escape. I had come to Fiji’s remote Ya-sawa Islands to find out if you can ditch everyday life and technology, as well as become immersed in the local culture. To get away from it all, and be part of it all.

The archipelago of ap-proximately 20 sparsely populated islands was mostly left alone until the late 1990s, and while a catamaran offers daily drop-offs today, the lack of roads, banks and shops lures those in search of Robinson Crusoe-style iso-lation. But this is Crusoe on a sliding scale, from bud-get accommodations to private-island luxury.

Even at resorts that have a wealth of activities, it doesn’t take long to unplug and live on Fiji time. But the one day of the week that’s always special is Sunday. To attend church in the village of Matacawa-levu, clothing choices matter: a skirt or sulu, a Fijian sarong, that covers my knees, a top that cov-ers my shoulders, and not too much cleavage. When you’ve packed for tropi-cal temperatures, this may take a little strategizing.

On the boat ride to Mata-cawalevu, my host, Arthur, explains the order of the day in visiting his village.

“We’ll first pay our re-spects to the chief, and will give him a bag of kava.”

Fiji’s national drink, kava is made from the pul-verized root of a member of the pepper family. After the chief gives us permis-sion to visit the village, we’ll attend church. Before

Yasawa Islands - Your Home Away From HomeJill K Robinson is a freelance writer and describes her hourney to Yasawa.

we leave, there’s time for a few bowls of kava.

“I thought the rule was no kava on Sundays,” I say, wondering if I’ve heard wrong.

“Usually yes,” replies Ar-thur.

“But it’s Father’s Day, so we can have kava.”

“How many kava loop-holes do you have?’” I ask, recalling a few examples during my stay in Fiji.

Arthur lets out a roar of a laugh, and then looks at me with a smirk.

“A lot,” he says.After securing the boat

on the beach, we walk past the first few homes on the outskirts of the vil-lage. Peeking inside, I see sparse collections of fur-niture, family crowded around the stove making Sunday meals, and photos plastered to the walls. Oc-casionally, an image of a shark, turtle or stingray is among the photos.

Shortly after his mutiny experience, British naviga-tor William Bligh was the first European to sight the Yasawas in 1789 (Bligh Wa-ter is named after him), but the region wasn’t charted until a U.S. expedition in 1840. While the dominant religion in Fiji is Christiani-ty, some regional traditions still exist from the coun-try’s precolonial history.

Many Yasawa Islanders have a spirit animal — from

turtle to sea snake to shark. This was once a distinction to fight over, especially if someone killed your fam-ily animal. Nowadays, it’s another way Yasawans identify themselves, and sometimes gives way to entertaining chest thump-ing.

Matacawalevu is a tra-ditional village with no more than 320 residents, so the first stop must be at the home of chief , to ob-tain permission to visit. In a Fijian home, the eastern door is an entrance only for men. The family enters through the western door, and everyone can use the northern door.

We ditch our rubber flip-flops on the grass and Arthur calls out in the di-rection of the northern door, “Dua, dua, dua!” The Ratu allows us inside, and we enter, sitting on wo-ven mats placed among a mishmash of furniture, appliances and family pho-tos. The salt air has made the black-and-white pho-tos wavy in their frames.

“Bula bula!,” cries the Ratu, and seats himself on the floor across from us.

We reply with equal bu-las.

“Where do you come from?,” he asks me, and leans forward with inter-est.

“California, San Fran-cisco,” I answer, cutting

straight to the specific. It seems everyone I’ve talked with in Fiji treats California as a separate country.

“Do you see the Golden Gate Bridge every day?,” he asks.

“I have to admit, I do not.”

This seems to disap-point him, and he turns to the next visitor. Shortly, the Ratu’s attention returns to me and he asks my im-pressions of Fiji.

“Everyone has treated me kindly, making me feel as if I’m part of a family,” I reply.

He winks, squeezing the bag of kava that Arthur has presented.

“You are part of our fam-ily,” he says.

Permission granted. The DMV should be so easy.

I settle into one of the front pews in the Mata-cawalevu Church, a one-room building with sea-foam walls and a floor of peeling linoleum. Despite the scent of the ocean through the open win-dows and all attendees in bare feet, it operates like church nearly anywhere. Adults maintain a serious focus during the service, while children swing their legs, poke each other, fall asleep and try to get visi-tors to smile. Too much inattentiveness, however, and an attendant delivers a light tap with a thin cane.

It’s during church that another Fijian cultural tradition catches my ear. Nearly half the service is in song, and everyone partici-pates. After sitting out for the first two musical num-bers, I’m presented with a hymnal, courtesy of the young boy sitting to my left. He turns the pages to the correct place, and runs his finger along the Fijian lyr-ics, so I can find my place.

In the Yasawa Islands, song is everywhere. Some resorts have nightly meke performances ,consisting of dancing and singing, which at first might seem akin to formulaic Hawai-ian hotel luaus, but when I realize that I’m encoun-tering a handful of musical occasions each day, I un-derstand how interwoven song traditions are here.

A gardener sings as he climbs to harvest co-conuts. Guitars and uku-leles are strewn around the dining room, awaiting the right moment to be used. My dive guide hums a church hymn while he sets the boat’s anchor. A favorite bartender, Sha-kira, translates Fijian lyrics in the country’s national anthem, “Isa Lei”, so I can sing along with him.

I haven’t touched my iPhone in days, not even to listen to music. When not wandering from beach to beach or swimming in the

warm, azure water, I’m get-ting spontaneous lessons in carving drums, picking coconuts and stringing the perfect shell necklace.

After church, I sit with Arthur’s village buddies in a circle on the sand floor of a partially built home and drink kava out of a coco-nut-shell bowl. While the idea of being marooned on a deserted island is of-ten portrayed as bad luck, in the case of the sparsely inhabited Yasawas, the benefit is evident in much more than relaxation. For this easy access to Fijian island culture, I’d trade plenty of things travelers often have on vacation checklists. Yes, even Wi-Fi.

On this island chain that rivals the neighboring (and more heavily traveled) Mamanucas in beauty, the remoteness opens a win-dow to Fijian daily culture — one that often remains tightly closed in more densely packed tourist destinations. From the first “Bula bula” greeting, being interwoven into daily Fijian island life seems effortless. You are encouraged to sing along.

It begins to make sense, then, that when you arrive, you’re met with a hug and “welcome home.”

The beatiful Yasawa Group through the lens of Jill Robinson’s camera.



ADVERTISEMENT

Air New Zealand has flown the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner to Fiji for the first time with the aircraft touching down at Nadi International Airport at 10.45am (local time).

Airline and airport staff along with members of the travel trade got their first look at the aircraft and an opportunity to tour on board.

Air New Zealand Chief Sales and Commercial Of-ficer Cam Wallace says deploying the 787-9 air-craft between Auckland and Nadi will enhance the customer experience and contribute to an 11 percent increase in capacity on the route.

“The 787-9 has slotted into our fleet well and our customers tell us they love

Yasawa Islands - Your Home Away From Home

travelling on it because of the larger windows, higher humidity and lower cabin altitude.

“We’re replacing a number of existing narrow body services with larger Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft meaning there will be even more seats avail-able on this route which is great news for travellers,” says Mr Wallace.

From tomorrow Air New Zealand is also offer-ing its Premium Economy product on wide body ser-vices from Nadi, delivering greater space and comfort.

Air New Zealand op-erates a daily service be-tween Nadi and Auckland with a second daily service on Sundays. The airline will also add a second dai-ly service on Fridays over

the peak holiday period from mid-December to mid-January. Services are operated by a mix of Boe-ing 787-9, Boeing 777 and Airbus A320 aircraft.

Last year Air New Zea-land was the first global carrier to take delivery of the revolutionary aircraft. The airline’s current fleet of five Dreamliners cur-rently operate services to Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Tokyo, Shanghai and now Nadi.

The airline’s sixth air-craft is expected to arrive in Auckland in the coming weeks with another six air-craft due to arrive at regu-lar intervals through until late 2018.

AIR NEW ZEALAND

Air New Zealand’s Dreamliner in Fiji for the first time



LOCAL NEWS/RECIPES

COCONUT ICEIngredients250g Sweetened Con-

densed Milk250g Golden Icing Sugar

(sifted)200g Friend’s Fiji Style

Desiccated CoconutMethod1. Mix together the

condensed milk, icing sug-ar and desiccated coconut in a large bowl.

2. Break small pieces of the dough and cut into square shapes.

3. Dust with desic-cated coconut.

4. These will keep for up to a month at least, if stored in an airtight con-tainer.

SATWA LADDOOSIngredients2 Cups Friend’s Fiji Style

Satwa (Seven Grains) - 250g1.5 Cup Powdered Sugar

- 200g1 Cup Allowrie100%

PureNZ Ghee - 200gCardamon (Elaichi) 7-8

podsMethod1. Heat ghee until

melted thoroughly.

2. In a wide basin add Satwa, cardamom and sugar and mix thoroughly.

3. Mix heated ghee as you progress with bind-ing the mixture into round balls.

4. Store in an air tight container. Can keep for two months.

ALMOND SEERA Ingredients (Serve 4-6)1 cup of coarse Flour

Wheat 1-1/2 cup of Blanched

Almonds 1 teaspoon of Carda-

mon Powder ¼ teaspoon of Crushed

Saffron Strands 1 tablespoon of Warm

Milk 8-10 blanched Almonds,

finely chopped into slivers 1-1/4 cup of Allow-

rie100% PureNZ Ghee 3 cups of Water 1 cup of Sugar Preparation:1. Dissolve the crushed

Saffron in the warm milk and keep it aside for some time.

2. Now dry and make a powder of blanched al-monds. Save 10 almonds for the purpose of garnish-ing.

Hoteliers Finance New Maternity Ward

By CHARLES CHAMBERSMr Hopgood (left) with the awards he received. Photo: OURTIGGER FIJI

3. Melt some ghee in a large and heavy pan.

4. Add some flour to the ghee. Stir and fry the mix-ture for about 2-3 minutes.

5. Add some almond powder to the mixture and again stir and fry the mix-ture till it becomes golden and gives a nice aroma. The mixture should be

stirred continuously. 6. Add some water and

again stir and cook it. 7. Add some sugar to

the mixture. 8. When the ghee starts

to exude then add some cardamom and saffron to the mixture.

9. Now stir and place the prepared dish into the serv-

ing dish. Garnish it with the chopped almonds.

CHICKPEAS AND PO-

TATOES (AllooChanna) CURRY

Ingredients (Serve 4-6)1 can chickpeas3 lbs potatoes 1large onion

3 cloves of garlic1 Golden Brand chili

pepper3 tsp Golden Brand cur-

ry powder1 cup of water 2 tsp Golden Soya Bean

Recipes to Delight Your Family and Guests

Cheesy Bacon Mini Meatloaves

INGREDIENTS

2 eggs3/4 cup milk1-1/2 lb. lean ground beef 1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken3/4 cup KRAFT Mexican Style Finely Shredded Four Cheese1/3 cup KRAFT Original Barbecue Sauce3 green onions, sliced6 slices OSCAR MAYER Bacon

DIRECTIONSWhisk eggs and milk in

large bowl until blended. Add all remaining ingre-dients except bacon; mix lightly. Shape into 6 (1-inch-thick) patties; wrap bacon slice around edge of each patty.

Wrap individually in plastic wrap; place in freezer-weight re-seal-able plastic bag. Seal bag. Freeze up to 3 months.

Heat oven to 375ºF. Un-wrap frozen patties; place on rimmed baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Bake 40 to 45 min. or until done (160ºF).

Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

1 pkg. (4 oz.) BAKER’S GERMAN’S Sweet Choco-late

3/4 cup butter or marga-rine

1-1/2 cups sugar3 eggs1 tsp. vanilla2 cups flour, divided1 tsp. baking soda1/4 tsp. salt1 cup buttermilkCoconut-Pecan Filling

and Frosting

DIRECTIONSHeat oven to 350°F.Microwave chocolate

and butter in large micro-waveable bowl on HIGH

2 min. or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Add sugar; beat with mixer un-til blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition. Blend in vanilla. Combine 1/2 cup flour, baking soda and salt. Add to chocolate mixture; mix well. Add remaining flour alternately with but-termilk, mixing well after each addition.

Spoon into 24 paper-lined muffin cups.

Bake 25 to 30 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 min.; re-move to wire racks. Cool completely.

Frost with Coconut-Pe-can Filling and Frosting.



NADI IN PICTURES/ LOCAL NEWS

By Kathrin Krishna

A Dream come true for Neha at Sug-ar Festival

Miss Fiji Foundation for the Needy Children in Fiji, Neha Narayan was crowned Miss Sugar Festi-val 2015 at Churchill Park.

Ms Narayan thanked her sponsors for the op-portunity and dedicated the achievement to her mother.

“I thank my sponsors and supporters in Lauoto-ka for believing in me and giving me an opportunity,” she said.

Nadi In Pictures

Nadi In PicturesNadi In Pictures

“I dedicate my win to my mother, without whom I wouldn’t have won,” she said.

Meanwhile, queens from the different carni-vals across Fiji will vie for the position of Miss Fiji in a pageant which will be held in Nadi this month.

Miss Fiji will later repre-sent the country at the Miss Pacific pageant scheduled for November.

The children of Lovu Hart Home, their faces glowing with excitement, sat eagerly as if Santa Claus had arrived early as Althia Tours bought groceries and clothes for the more vulnerable residents at the settlement.

Tour Company Lends A Hand



TOURISM/ STREET POLL

Travellers to and from the Solomon Islands are in for a treat with an add-ed flight should approval be given by Government.

The new flight, if ap-proved, will begin on No-vember 4.

The national carrier will utilise its flagship Airbus A320 on the route which is scheduled to operate ex-Honiara on Wednesdays and ex-Nadi on Thursdays.

The new service builds on the national carrier’s existing Honiara - Nadi service which operates via Port Vila, Vanuatu, on Saturdays and returns to Honiara, again via Port Vila, on Sundays.

This new flight path represents a further ex-pansion of Solomon Air-lines international net-work in recent months, the carrier having com-menced a direct Sydney-Honiara service in June.

Solomon Airlines Gen-

Solomon Airlines to commence direct Honiara-Nadi service

IvamereRadinimoala, Malawai

The team should just main-tain the standard they have

reached during the World Cup. We have improved our rugby in terms of skills and defence and the best thing now is just

to maintain this level.

John Lumkon, Nabua

Just retain the current coach and officials. Fiji

has improved a lot in this World Cup. If Fiji can match

the scrums of the likes of England, Australia and Wales I bet you Fiji can hold up the All Blacks scrums too come

next time.

KeresiFoto, Kennedy Avenue

Extend John McKee’s contract and get more sponsors to help prepare the team for

the next World Cup. We are on par with Tier One teams

now, we need to keep this up and get behind McKee for the

work he has done with the Flying Fijians.

NuniaMatabalei, Votualevu

FRU would do good to keep the coach and his team around. McKee has helped our team reach a different level of rugby now, imagine what can happen come 2019, we should definitely keep him for the

team.

RatulailaiVuniamatana, Nadi

Scrums and the line outs have improved tremendously and even their defence games.

In general, we should keep playing our style of Fijian

rugby. And maybe the coaches could have three goal kick-ers around just in case one doesn’t fare out too well.

TaleiVisaca, Martintar

Keep the team because it is a good one. They had tough teams in their pool and despite the losses to the Tier Ones, they played well so it would be best to keep the members of the team and train them for the next World Cup, they’d be

a team to reckon with.

Street Poll: What do you think should be the next step for FRU to prepare for the 2019 World Cup?

By Charles Chambers

eral Manager Operations & Commercial, Gus Kraus said the commencement of the new Honiara-Nadi service held great signifi-cance for the prospect of increased trade and busi-ness links between the two countries as well as

a closer relationship with a key Melanesian neigh-bour.

“As importantly, this new direct service opens up even more opportu-nity for international trav-ellers to make seamless connections via Fiji into

the Solomon Islands, and particularly from North America and northern Asia,” he said.

“This new service rep-resents yet another major benchmark for Solomon Airlines in a very proud 53-year history.”

Timings as follow:Flight IE 708 operating

Wednesday, departs Ho-niara at 1515 arriving Nadi at 2015.

Flight IE 709 operating Thursday, departs Nadi at 1100 arriving Honiara at 1200.



LOCAL NEWS

Sigatoka Summit focuses on Development To raise awareness

around the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals, UN Women and the United Nations Develop-ment Programme in Fiji partnered with Sigatoka Town Council to hold the Community Social Good Summit featuring the Con-tinuing Market Business Education for market ven-dors as part of the Markets for Change project.

“The Social Good Sum-mit is a flagship event for UNDP,” said UNDP Admin-istrator Helen Clark in New York.

“We plan to use the So-cial Good Summit’s plat-form and audience to help governments and partners launch the Sustainable Development Goals to help make the new Global Goals a household name everywhere.”

With the theme, “New Goals New power New technology,” the Commu-nity Social Good Summit in Sigatoka discussed what SDGs applied to them and their community and how new technology had im-proved their lives and our communities.

“We are honored to

By CHARLES CHAMBERS

host this Community So-cial Good Summit with UN Women and UNDP. It is to improve the standard of living of the people of Nad-roga and Navosa by work-ing together and achieving SDGs,” Tulsi Ram, Chief Executive Officer, Sigatoka Town Council said while opening Summit and wel-coming participants.

“The importance of gen-

der equality for sustainable development goes beyond goal five, which specifi-cally calls for the achieve-ment of gender equality and women’s empower-ment,” UN Women’s Rep-resentative at the FIJI MCO, Ms. Aleta Miller said.

She said one could not achieve any of the global goals without addressing the existing inequality, dis-

crimination and violence that women across the world face every day.

She said women’s knowledge and skill would also be critical in finding creative and sustainable solutions to achieve the SDGs across the board.

“This makes the newly approved global goals an exciting opportunity for the global community to

renew its commitment to gender equality and to take bold and specific action to achieve it, “she said.

Osnat Lubrani, UN Resi-dent Co-ordinator and UNDP Representative said Fiji had made significant progress the past 15 years to achieve the Millen-nium Development Goals (MDGs), but there is much left to do.

“The SDGs are a power-ful framework to guide fur-ther work to close the gaps but also tackle important emerging issues, including rise in inequalities, marine resource management and climate change, as well as building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions.”



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WORLD NEWSMexican police find Tijuana-San Di-ego drugs tunnel

Mexican police have found an 800m (2,625ft) long tun-nel used to smuggle drugs into the US city of San Diego, authorities say.The tunnel, which starts from the Mexican city of Tijua-na, is reported to belong to the drug gang of fugitive drug cartel leader Joaquin Guzman.Police said they detained 16 suspects and seized 10 tonnes of marijuana.Mexican cartels have been smuggling drugs to the US through underground tunnels for years.Federal police moved in on the latest tunnel, which was 10m (33ft) deep, after weeks of investigations and “with-out firing a single shot, surprising the suspected drug smugglers,” the National Security Commission said.Police described a sophisticated tunnel, which was lit, ventilated and built with metal beams to prevent col-lapse.Officials have not yet confirmed which gang was operat-ing the tunnel, but officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity told Reuters news agency that it was built by Guzman’s Sinaloa Cartel, which operates in the re-gion.

Living in the Lion’s Den. Indian Wom-an who Hears Cat Calls

Living in the Lion’s Den. Indian Woman who Hears Cat CallsFor a group of women forest guards working in India’s Gir sanctu-ary, the only home to Asiatic lions, protecting and rescuing big cats is all in a day’s work. The BBC’s Geeta Pandey travels to Gir forest to meet one of them For as long as she can remember, Geeta Ratadiya always wanted to be a forest guard.“I was born in Gir, my grandfather and my father both worked as forest guards,” she says. Unlike Vadher and Kagada who had never seen a lion until they became forest guards, Ratadiya had her first encounter with the big cats when she was just four years old.“My father used to take me to the forest with him all the time. One day I saw him standing close to a lion and a lioness. I was very afraid, I thought they would attack him, I started to cry,” she says with a laugh. mar/Gir Forest But she continued to accompany her father into the jungle and, she says, gradually the fear faded.“When I told my parents that I wanted to work in the forest, my mother thought I was too frail and would not qualify. She was thrilled when I was selected. But I always wanted to wear the kha-ki uniform and carry a walkie-talkie like my dad.”In the six years that she has worked as a forest guard, Ratadiya has been involved in many rescue operations and also takes care of the animals at the rescue centre.On the days there is no rescue, there is plenty for her to do, taking care of injured, sick and abandoned animals. Ratadiya had been married for just a couple of months when she got the forest department job.Today, she often takes her two-year-old daughter to work. “She pesters me to bring her here every day. She loves looking at lions and other animals.”

Once a Soldier- Now an Ice Cream Truck Driver

The sudden rustling of leaves from a nearby tree conjures up fearful memo-ries for Rajeewan. In 2006 with the hope of seeing his sister, he had travelled from his home in Jaffna to the Vanni region in North-ern Sri Lanka.

At the time a cease-fire agreement had been signed between the Gov-ernment of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE), mak-ing it possible for people

to travel into the rebel controlled Vanni region. This did not last, during the course of Rajeewan’s visit fighting erupted between Government forces and the LTTE closing off the main return route back to Jaffna.

The 13 year old was trapped, unable to go back to his home in Jaffna. Cut off from his parents, friends and school Rajeewan was now in the midst of a rag-ing conflict.

His desperation and fear increased by the day, as the LTTE was now on the look-out to recruit more

children to fight in their ranks.

They visited towns and villages and Rajeevan’s sister’s home. In 2007, despite the pleas of his family, he got abducted and was taken away to be trained as a child solider. “I was really scared they would hurt me, I wanted to get out” says Rajeevan. His countless attempts to escape also failed as he was caught by the LTTE and brought back to their camp.

“I longed to see my fam-ily, I wanted to go home” he says. Subsequently Ra-jeewan was placed in their armed ranks and com-pelled to fight with them until the last stages of the conflict.

At the end of the conflict in May 2009 Rajeewan sur-rendered to the Sri Lankan Army and was sent to a rehabilitation centre in Va-vuniya. After a year there he was allowed to go back home. He had left his fam-ily as a 13 year old boy, and was now returning as a 19 year old fully grown adult.

“I was happy to be final-ly home, but I was worried

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman escaped from a maximum security jail through a 1.5km-long (1 mile) tunnel in July and remains on the run.Another tunnel was discovered at the start of August also in Tijuana, though it was incomplete and came short of crossing the border with the US.

about my future and what I could do to earn a living and help my aging par-ents” he said.

As a child Rajeewan had lost out on his school education leaving him no option but to look for un-skilled labour work.

Rajeewan’s luck changed when he was contacted by UNICEF to at-tend a Vocational Training Programme where he en-listed for a driving course. He was among 25 former child soldiers invited to participate.

Six months later and fully conversant with the traffic rules and driving skills, Rajeewan was on the road. He got a perma-nent job with a local ice cream vendor and drives around villages and towns delivering fresh ice-cream to children.

“I love to honk while driving past my home. My brother always comes out to wave” he says.

Rajeewan earns a daily wage of Sri Lanka Rupees 450/- which includes a lunch allowance.

“I love my job and more

than anything I am able to help my family” he says.

Besides the monthly food supply, Rajeewa has also bought clothes for his younger sister and brother.

“I am so thankful to UNI-CEF for helping me to re-build my life. I have a bet-ter future because of this” he says.

Since 2002, nearly 7,000 children were recruited as child soldiers in Sri Lanka. At the end of the conflict in May 2009, a total of 594 children aged between 12 and 18 years surrendered to armed forces. At the time UNICEF worked with the Sri Lanka Government

By SUZANNE DAVEY - UNICEF

Writing in the Sand Saves Tourist Life

Geoff Keys, 63, was barefoot in an area plagued by the world’s deadliest snakes after tak-ing a wrong turn while en-joying a dip.

For hours he swam and hiked as he tried to find his way back to camp in the jungle in northern Queensland.

He was eventually winched to safety by the north Queensland search and rescue police.

He spent two days in hospital recovering but is still determined to contin-ue travelling.

His online blog has the motto: “Adventure be-fore Dementia. Seeing the world while I remember where it is.”

His ordeal began when he went for a swim with a friend about five miles from his camp in Jardine National Park.

Despite wearing only shorts, a T-shirt and hat, he went looking for some wa-terfalls but made what he now describes as a “stupid decision”.

He took a shortcut through the bush and was soon lost and the begin-ning of his ordeal.

He swam and trekked, hoping a creek he stum-bled upon would take him back to the camp, but it was a different stream.

At one stage, Mr Keys, a retired AA driver, from Dartford, Kent, heard heli-copters in the distance and realised they were search-ing for him.

“Luckily the only ani-mals I had trouble with were the ants that live un-

By LAURA HOLLAND of THE EXPRESS

Geoff Keys thanking his rescuer Brad Foat. Photo: DAILY EXPRESS

der bark,” Mr Keys said.He decided to keep on

swimming, despite being bounced around by rapids near sharp rocks while at

times he trekked through the jungle, home to the deadly taipan.

Then as he was drifting past a sandbank, he had an idea that saved his life.

With a stick, he scrawled in the sand “Help 2807” with an arrow, refer-ring to the date and the di-rection he was travelling.

Mr Keys told the Daily Express that it was not until the following day and an-other night in the bush that he was finally found.

He said he owed his life to North Queensland Se-nior Constable Brad Foat, who extended the search area and spotted the mes-sage.

A grateful Mr Keys was winched to safety.

Mr Keys said he sur-vived by drinking water out of the creek.

“I managed to go with-out food, despite all that walking and swimming,” he added.

“Not once did I think I wouldn’t make it out of

there.“Luckily the only ani-

mals I had trouble with were the ants that live un-der bark. Whenever I leant on a tree they would be all over my neck.”

Mr Keys said he still planned to continue his

travels. “I’m having a ball,” he said.

“But I never expected something like this to hap-pen.”

to ensure that all of the children were treated as victims and not persecut-ed. UNICEF also supported the Government to formu-late the legal framework for the rehabilitation of child soldiers and worked with the Ministry of Justice and Commissioner Gener-al for Rehabilitation to pro-vide education, recreation and vocational training as well as psychological sup-port to help them deal with their past.

Rajeewan beside his ice cream truck. Photo: UNICEF.



LOCAL NEWS

Twenty management staff of Treasure Island Resort has recently com-pleted a ‘Leaders Develop-ment’ course to build on current skills and to excel in their current roles.

This course has allowed our team leaders to un-derstand the ability they have within themselves to achieve what they may have thought impossible previously.

What’s learned can now be passed on to their staff and together build a team full of confidence, self-as-surance and optimism.

The course, which is held by Kelera Kotobalavu, puts forward a belief sys-tem that allows you to start where you are and attract everything you want in life by using what you already have – your mind – to tap

into the power you already have, to achieve your dreams; success is acces-sible to anyone who truly desires it!

Kelera Kotobalavu is a motivational speaker, from the village of Yalobi, Waya in the Yasawas, was brought up in Fiji and has been living in Sydney for twenty years. She is a reg-ular writer for Fiji Times’ Sunday edition (The Sun-day Times).

Her skills include: leadership develop-

Island Resort - Team Leaders at-tend ‘Self Develop-ment Course’

A glass of wine a day keeps the doctor away and what better way than with the new Naked Range Wines available at P.Meghji stores.

A wine tasting event was held recently at P.Meghji’s Martintar shop to commem-orate the newly unveiled range of wine.

According to the direc-

tor of Naked Range Wines, Mike Jansz, the product promises to deliver a much more refined taste perfect for winding down after a hard day’s work.

Naked Range Wines is brewed in the Jansz Estate in Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia and is a family run vineyard and winery that was established in 1995.

According to its web-site, wine produced from the Yarra Valley region is

unique as the valley itself with its varying micro cli-mates and soil types.

The new range was the toast of the night as busi-ness representatives and other stakeholders gath-ered at P.Meghji to savour a taste of the widely ac-claimed wine.

Naked Range wine is now available at all P.Meghji outlets.

Naked Wine at P.Meghji

Toning muscles, losing calories and keeping fit.

These are just some of the reasons why running needs to be prioritized in a person’s life according to former Fiji representa-tive to the South Pacific Games, Abhinesh Kumar.

The former long dis-tance running rep said his organisation, known as the Jet Runners Club is out to promote running as the ultimate way of maintain physical health.

Running for Health and Wellness

By Serelisoni Moceica



ment, coaching, staff de-velopment, workshop facilitation, personal d e v e l o p m e n t , c h a n g e management, teaching and team building.

Treasure Island Resort is one of Fiji’s most popu-lar island resorts. Treasure Island being a four-star re-sort offers 68 traditionally-styled and recently reno-vated bures, along with a sophisticated restaurant and bar, impressive three-tiered swimming pool and a highly acclaimed kids’ club!

Treasure Island has that truly authentic Fijian experience and this genu-ine hospitality is conta-gious and the main reason we have so many return guests. We pride ourselves on our quality product and service and we look for-ward to welcoming you to our beautiful island.

“What better way to lose calories and also tone muscles than getting your-self involved in running,” he said.

The Jet Runners Club has held a total of 64 races so far and Mr Kumar has urged everyone to sign themselves up for the next organised race.

“So far, most of the country’s long distance runners are based in the West and our club wants to challenge those athletes out in the other divisions to organise running compe-titions or come compete with our runners during one of our competitions.”

Mr Kumar said the club also had a few athletes from secondary schools and even from rural areas.

He said the last com-petition was held in Serua where long distance run-ning enthusiasts partici-pated.

“We were pleasantly surprised by the number of unknowns that showed up and we plan to organise more of such rural compe-titions so we can get new people interested,” he said.

The club, based in Votu-alevu is headed by Mr Ku-mar and other former long distance runners.



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RUGBY WORLD CUP 2015 - BY CHARLES CHAMBERS

There was once a time when France was consid-ered New Zealand’s bete noir on the World Cup stage.

Legendary French victories against consid-erable odds in the 1999 semifinal and 2007 quar-terfinal certainly testified to that.

But there seemed little to spook the awesome All Blacks in Cardiff Satur-day as the reigning rugby world champions blud-geoned a sorry Les Bleus 62-13 to waltz into next weekend’s semifinals.

Four first-half tries from Brodie Retallick, Nehe Milner-Skudder and Julian Savea (twice) put New Zealand firmly in charge despite a riposte notched by Louis Picamoles.

And a lack of French discipline combined with some majestic attack-ing play from New Zea-land piled on the agony

A late try by Fourie du Preez and the boot of Handre Pollard sent South Africa into the Rug-by World Cup semi-finals with a 23-19 victory over Wales in a thunderous game at Twickenham on Saturday.

The Springboks pro-duced a moment of mag-ic six minutes from time, catching Wales napping when Duane Vermeulen peeled off the back of a scrum and the big No. 8s brilliant off-load sent half-back Du Preez scamper-ing over in the corner.

Twice winners South Africa, who were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Australia in 2011 and began this tournament with a shock defeat by Japan, will meet holders New Zealand.

It was an awesome feeling, it was a tight game, I’m just delighted,” said Du Preez. “We just needed to keep pushing, I could see some of their guys lying down. We’ve got two more games, we’ve learned from the Japan game.”

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New Zealand Thrashes France in Quarterfinal

South Africa beat Wales to reach semi-finals

in the second period for France’s outgoing coach Philippe Saint-Andre.

Jerome Kaino strolled over for the first try after the restart during a spell in the bin for Picamoles, who had thrown a punch at New Zealand captain Richie McCaw.

Savea then turned on the afterburners to race away from the French backline and secure his hat-trick just before the hour mark.

Kieran Read touched down shortly after be-fore a quickfire double from Tawera Kerr-Barlow rounded off the scoring.

New Zealand could have made it even more but Ma’a Nonu dropped the ball inches from the line when it seemed easi-er to score.

It was a very, very pleasing performance,” New Zealand coach Steve Hansen told UK

broadcaster ITV after the game. “Everyone from 1-23 brought something to the game and it was nice to get a little monkey off our backs,” he added, in reference to his team’s previous record against France.

Defeat against Ireland last Sunday and rumors of mutiny against the man-agement of Saint-Andre

during the week spoke of far from ideal preparation for the French.

Yet the sheer scale of the defeat was still sur-prising for the side that pushed New Zealand all the way in the final four years ago.

Boos could be heard coming from French supporters as the teams walked round the pitch at

the fulltime whistle.“The fans are disap-

pointed like us,” Saint-An-dre said after the match. “But we did the maxi-mum we could do, we worked hard over the last three months, but New Zealand punished each of our mistakes.”

The French blues were of little concern to Han-sen, whose team is now

just two games away from becoming the first to retain the biggest prize in rugby.

But there will be little quarter given when the All Blacks meet a famil-iar foe in next weekend’s semifinal.

Kieran Read touches down for his try. Photo by CNN

South Africa got huge performances from two of their 2007 World Cup winners in Du Preez and Schalk Burger, who have both come back from career-threatening inju-ries. Burger, who was re-lentless with the ball and without, won a deserved man-of-the-match.

“I have always said you have to back the right guys and they have such immense character. I would go to war with them,” said South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer. “Fourie was brilliant. But I thought Schalk also came through and Duane [Ver-meulen], all the old play-ers were brilliant.”

Vermeulen, in an en-ergetic performance in which he made the most metres of any player on either side, created the game-winning try with a deft off-load round his back but it was Burger’s all-action display that stood out.

The back-rower, on a day when he set a South Africa record for Rugby World Cup appearanc-es with his 18th match, one ahead of John Smit,

made a game-leading 21 ball carries and also ran an impressive 55 metres as he battered away at the Welsh defence.

“I have always said that coaching is over-rated, you have to pick guys with character. They are like charcoal, when you put them under pres-sure you get diamonds,” Meyer said of Fourie and Burger, who came close to losing his life to bacte-rial meningitis in 2013.

Five-eighth Pollard kicked five penalties and a drop goal for the Springboks with Dan Big-gar landing 14 points for the Welsh, whose brave defensive effort came up just short.

Wales showed more creativity than in their fi-nal pool defeat to Austra-lia a week ago, scoring a fine first-half try through Gareth Davies, but their injury-hit tournament finally caught up with them.

“Gutted not to get through but we can leave the pitch with no regrets,” said Wales captain Sam Warburton. “It was back and forth all match and

we knew it would come down to fine margins or the last five minutes.”

A brutal contest was surprisingly open from the start, although it de-veloped into a cagey and tense affair.

Pollard’s three penal-ties gave South Africa a 9-3 lead but Wales hit back thanks to a moment of brilliance from Biggar. The five-eighth, making the most of fullback Wil-lie Le Roux’s hesitancy, gathered his own up-and-under in the Springbok 22 and, with Davies on his shoulder, off-loaded for his halfback partner to crash over after 17 min-

utes.Pollard’s fourth pen-

alty from a tight angle put South Africa ahead again as the game became scrappy a Biggar drop goal right on half-time put the Welsh 13-12 up.

The change of ends and a swirling wind ap-peared to initially affect Pollard and he was twice wayward with penalty at-tempts before nailing a drop goal from in front of the posts after Biggar had stretched the lead to four.

Warburton came up with a crucial turnover five metres from his line as the Springboks upped their intensity, piling into

the rucks time and time again, only to be repelled.

With both sides tiring and somewhat ragged, the decisive moment came moments after an angry Biggar trudged off remonstrating with his own medical staff.

Wales appeared to lose concentration in the ensuing scrum in their own 22 and an alert Du Preez pounced to secure the semi-final place.

“At the end of the day South Africa hung in there, got one chance and they took it and that was the result,” said Wales coach Warren Gat-land.

Fourie Du Prees scores the winning try that kicked Wales out of RWC 2015. Photo Sydney Morning Herald



RUGBY WORLD CUP / LOCAL SPORTS

Foley breaks Scottish hearts

Cruel, cruel, cruel, and hugely contentious. The sight of the South ¬Afri-can referee Craig Joubert sprinting down the Twick-enham tunnel at the final whistle with the speed of Usain Bolt suggested that he was already aware of the controversy he had ignited with his award of the last-minute penalty that ¬enabled Australia, the overwhelming favou-rites, to escape with the World Cup quarter-final booty, the fly-half Bernard Foley landing the kick that spared a ¬nation’s blushes and condemned the other lot to abject misery.

It would have been Scot-land’s finest hour. Instead the manner of the loss will haunt them. A water bottle came flying through the air and burst on the turf just inches from Joubert, a measure, albeit -unaccept-able, of the crowd’s anger.

The former Scotland full-back Gavin Hastings declared Joubert’s unbe-coming dash for the sanc-tuary of the dressing room “a despicable act”, a view echoed by the former Eng-land scrum-half Matt Daw-son.

There was enough con-

fusion as to what precisely happened, as well as to the law of the game involved, for there to have been at least a conversation with the touch-judges.

Replays show it should not have been a penalty

A ball had gone loose from Scot David Denton at the tail of a line-out, was knocked on by Scotland, then touched the Wallaby scrum-half Nick Phipps be-fore being picked up by a Scot. It was a chaotic situ-ation.

Yet Joubert ruled defini-tively, and wrongly, given that Phipps was ¬later to admit that he had been ¬trying to play the ball and therefore effectively ren-dered the Scot, Jon Welsh, onside. “I think everyone was trying to win the ball there,” said Phipps, who was grasping at the ball only to knock it on. “We were all going for it.”

Scotland’s captain, Greg Laidlaw, was asked if he had approached the refer-ee for clarification. “I never got the chance, he was off that quick,” the scrum-half said. “He was taking his time and he wasn’t sure of himself. He made a sharp exit at the end of the game,

Argentina have stunned an injury-depleted Ireland to secure an emphatic 43-20 victory in the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals.

Even the Six Nations champion of the last two seasons could not halt the unstoppable march of the southern hemisphere as the impressive Pumas joined New Zealand and South Africa in the last four.

The victory was punctu-ated by blistering two-try opening and closing sal-vos allied with the assured place-kicking of first five-eighth Nicolas Sanchez to earn Argentina a semifinal at Twickenham against Australia next weekend.

“I am very happy, we have met our second ob-jective, which was to play seven games at the World Cup,” Pumas coach Daniel Hourcade said.

“We played very good rugby. We played the rugby we wanted to, not for 80 minutes but in particular at the beginning and at the end.”

Early tries from centre Matias Moroni and winger Juan Imhoff silenced the passionate Irish following in the 72,316 Millennium Stadium crowd in Cardiff and when Sanchez kicked the first of his five penal-ties, the Pumas were 17-0 up after 14 minutes.

Ireland fought back with tries from replace-ment winger Luke Fitzger-ald in the 24th minute and flanker Jordi Murphy short-ly after the break to cut the deficit to 20-17, but three points was as close as the Irish would get.

Sanchez kept the score-board ticking over and clinical finishing from full-back Joaquin Tuculet and Imhoff for tries in the last 11 minutes ensured Ar-gentina would match their breakthrough achieve-ment of reaching the last four in 2007.

“The result just reflect-ed the tour de force dem-onstrated by the southern hemisphere teams this weekend,”

“We didn’t get the start we wanted, but I’m in-credibly proud of how we got back into the contest. When you try a bit too hard, you get loose, and they have tremendous speed merchants to take advantage.”

Ireland deserved credit for their comeback be-cause for the first quarter-of-an-hour, it looked like Argentina would romp into the semifinals on the back of a stunning display of total rugby.

Hammering into con-tact and transferring the ball at pace through the hands of backs and for-wards alike, it took only four minutes for Moroni to score in the corner after a sweeping move.

Six minutes later, Imhoff beat Rob Kearney in a race to Santiago Cordero’s chip through and did superbly to touch down before the ball went dead.

Ireland were able to re-group in the 17th minute when Pumas prop Ramiro Herrera earned a yellow

Argentina beat brave Ireland

that’s for sure. There is a pretty upset dressing room in there as you can imag-ine.”

Vern Cotter, the Scot-land head coach, restrict-ed himself to say that “it would have been nice” if there had been consulta-tions with other officials. The strict protocol of the use of the television match official does not allow for him to be used for such in-cidents, only foul play and the two phases leading up to the scoring of tries. If technology is in place, it seems daft that it cannot be used in high-stakes cir-

cumstances. Joubert ruled that the

Scotland replacement, Jon Welsh, was in an off-side position following the initial knock-on by John Hardie. The point of dis-pute, law 11.3 (c), revolves around whether Phipps “intentionally” played the ball, in which case Welsh was not offside. Phipps’s post-match comments confirmed that he had. In real time, it was evident that the substitute No 9 was desperately trying to get possession as his side were staring down the bar-rel of an ignominious de-

feat. It was a fine-line call, an unfitting way to end such a rousing game.

Sean Maitland’s sin-bin-ning was a contentious call

Michael Cheika adopt-ed the stoical approach, as well he might. “I have learnt to become neutral in these things as you only see things emotionally with your natural bias,” said the Wallabies’ head coach. “You have got to live with what you get and what you don’t get. That is the way it works. We still had to kick the goal.”

And so they did, Aus-tralia winning through to the semi-final where they

will face Argentina next Sunday, in the first clean sweep by the southern hemisphere in World Cup history.

We had come to apply the last rites to northern-hemisphere rugby but Scotland delayed the scat-tering of those ashes over the Twickenham turf with a display of such wit and daring that any such obitu-ary must now come laden with caveats. On this evi-dence, the southern super-powers are not invincible.

card for a no-arms tackle and before he returned Fitzgerald had skipped down the touchline and stepped inside Juan Martin Hernandez for a try.

It was a break up the middle from Fitzgerald,

on for the injured Tom-my Bowe, that sent Mur-phy through for a second Irish try which brought the crowd back into the match.

Ultimately, though, the absence of captain Paul

O’Connell and playmaker Johnny Sexton as well as two regular starting flank-ers were losses Ireland could ill afford and their quest for a first World Cup semi-final will go on for at least another four years.

Argentina’s Juan Imhoff scores his team’s fourth try against Ireland. Photo by Stuff.co.nz

Heartbreak. David Denton sinks to his knees in despair at the final whistle. Photo AFP



The 20 member Vodafone Fiji Under 17 side for the Oceania Football Confederation Championship (OFC) in Samoa. Photo. Antonio Kitione.

SEPTEMBER 2015. ISSUE 73 www.thejetnewspaper.com 50 CENTS

Page 22 Page 23

Among the many goals Steve Han-sen set himself on becoming All Blacks coach, he still considers the holy grail to be following a great performance with another one.

He and Richie McCaw share a com-mon view on that - both seeing great-ness as being defined by the ability to consistently deliver peak performance regardless of opponent, occasion or what happened the week before.The All Blacks now face the ultimate chal-lenge in this regard.

To win the World Cup, they need to surpass the sublime effort they pro-duced against France in the quarterfi-nal.

They need to increase the intensity and physicality they delivered against South Africa and piece together an ef-fort that all involved can safely say is the best produced in the last four years.

This was what the All Blacks failed to do in 2011. Coming into the final on the back of a superb and emotionally draining performance against Australia, the All Blacks didn’t raise their game. They didn’t go up mentally or physically - while the French did.

It made for a long night. A nervous night and maybe even a lucky night. The All Blacks were the heavyweight champion with nothing left, using all they had to avoid a sucker punch and stay in the game.

“You go back four years ago and we had a sensational performance against Australia in the semi,” says Hansen. “And then we really didn’t lift the next week when it was a final.

So coming off a good performance, it wasn’t a great performance by any stretch of the imagination, I think we will lift.

“There will be enough excitement and also knowing in the back of our minds that we could have done better last week and we always seem to play better when we are like that.”

They won four years ago, of course,

but they won on the back of their skip-per’s sheer bloody-mindedness and re-fusal to let another tournament be con-fined to failure.

They won four years ago, of course, but they won on the back of their skip-per’s sheer bloody-mindedness and re-fusal to let another tournament be con-fined to failure.

They won because across the team there were veterans from the failed 2007 campaign who had invested four years of their respective careers to make amends and that proved to be the intangible force that enabled the final score to be one point in favour of the All Blacks.

It’s unimaginable the All Blacks would get away with winning two finals with

Rugby World Cup 2015: All Blacks prepared for ultimate challenge

A taste of what’s to come. Ma’a Nonu and David Pocok confront each other in an earlier match. Photo by Sky

By Gregor Paul of New Zealand Herald

Wales Happy to be Written Off

poor performances and the nature of the victory against South Africa should pro-vide enough fuel to ensure there is not a shred of hidden complacency within the players.

And that’s essentially what the barrier is to backing up great performances. It is not a transparent or overt manifesta-tion of over confidence or complacency. Hansen’s view is that it is an embedded, almost impossible to detect bug in the sys-tem that relates to human nature.

Great performances inevitably lead to something being assumed by the players the next week: that there is a sense that it will all happen again just by turning up.

“When you have a performance like we had down in Cardiff,” said Hansen,

“it is really difficult mentally to get back into that same spot. One of the hardest things in sport I reckon is to go great to great because you expect things to be like they were.

“So we had a really tough, tight game [against South Africa] where we really didn’t play as well as we could have - and the opposition had something to do with that. But some of our own stuff has to be looked at. “Rather than waiting on the game we have got to go and take it so we are on the edge of our seat.

“We will go into this game on the weekend now really hungry for it and we won’t be over rating ourselves. Which will be good.”

10 MostExciting Playersat RWC 2015

The Jet Volume 7 Number 16

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