{"id":354924,"date":"2026-01-06T09:43:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T09:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/354924\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T09:43:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T09:43:07","slug":"fijian-drua-name-208cm-giant-in-12-strong-2026-development-squad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/354924\/","title":{"rendered":"Fijian Drua name 208cm giant in 12-strong 2026 development squad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Fijian Drua<\/a> have rewarded 12 aspiring talents for their respective form with training squad selections for the upcoming 2026 Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> season.<\/p>\n

Four of the group are returning players who have trained with the Drua previously, while eight newcomers bring serious bulk to the emerging cohort.<\/p>\n

Jeneriro Wakeham leads the pack in sheer size, offering a 2.08m frame with north of 140kg to throw around. The second-row forward, 22, was recruited by Top 14<\/a> giants Stade Fran\u00e7ais as a teenager, developing in the Parisian club\u2019s system before playing stints with Pro D2<\/a> side Stade Ni\u00e7ois and RFU Championship club Ealing Trailfinders. In 2025, Wakeham was involved in the NFL\u2019s International Player Pathway.<\/p>\n

Smatterings of NPC experience feature in the group, with Moses Armstrong Ravula and Pita Manamanaivalu<\/a> representing Manawatu, while Harold Rounds<\/a> has represented Bay of Plenty. Moses Armstrong Ravula is the younger brother of 21-year-old Flying Fijian and Fijian Drua playmaker Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula, and also captained the Fiji<\/a> U20 squad last year. JD Sivivatu Kanth has a background in Australian Rules football and previously had a contract with Andorra<\/a> Rugby.<\/p>\n

Fijian Drua Development Coach Nemani Nadolo-Kuridrani expressed tremendous excitement for the dozen promising players, who will train with the senior group throughout the season, including preseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited about the Development squad we\u2019ve finalised,\u201d the former Flying Fijian said. \u201cMany of these players have been standout performers for their clubs, and several have represented Fiji Under-20. They\u2019ve earned their place here, and combined with those who\u2019ve been with us over the past few years, we have a really exciting group. I\u2019m looking forward to working with them throughout the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

2026 Fijian Drua training squad<\/p>\n

Bogi Kikau*
Breyton Legge
Harold Rounds*
JD Sivivatu Kanth*
Jeneriro Wakeham*
Joshua Uluibau*
Joweli Walevu
Kalioni Ratunabuabua
Maleli Nauvasi
Moses Armstrong Ravula*
Pita Manamanaivalu*
Sairusi Ravudi*<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Fijian Drua have rewarded 12 aspiring talents for their respective form with training squad selections for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-354924","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}