Digicel Pacific Rising Rugby Stars kick off their training at the International Rugby Academy NZ (IRANZ) – the world’s leading independent high performance Rugby Academy.  The players arrived in Palmerston North for the academy Sunday and have been in intensive training since. The first phase of the course concentrates on skill discovery, team building and tactical training, mental and physical preparedness all essential skills for professional rugby players.

The Digicel Rising Rugby Stars Team includes Samoa’s Pita Semeane and Iosefo Ropeti Lafo, Tonga’s Maleko Latu and Otulea Katoa and Papua New Guinea’s Billy Torea and Christopher Kakah. Running for three weeks, the IRANZ High Performance Players’ course will arm these players with mental, physical and technical knowledge to help them advance in their rugby careers.

The team is being coached by all-time rugby greats such as Graham Henry, Murray Mexted, Christian Cullen, Aaron Mauger, Craig Dowd and many other internationally renowned players.

Speaking from the camp IRANZ’s Managing Director and former All Black Captain Murray Mexted gave an overview of the first phase of activities “the Digicel team arrived eager to get in to training and have now settled in well with the rest of the attendees. So far we’ve been working with the boys to build team spirit, test physical boundaries and to assess mental preparedness”.

“Now it’s about harnessing the natural talent of these players and equipping them with the tools, tactics and mental strength to play at a professional level,” he said.

Digicel Pacific Commercial Director, Darren McLean commented on the program yesterday from Brisbane “we’re excited to hear that the Digicel Rising Rugby Stars Team is settled and fully engrossed in the training program. We’re looking forward to travelling down to Palmerston North in the coming weeks to see the boys awarded their jerseys watch them in action on the pitch”.

To follow their progress and get daily updates visit the Digicel Facebook pages for the three contributing countries.