The Seafarers Sevens club is off to Christchurch this weekend to compete in the Canterbury-Fijian Invitational Sevens tournament.
The Dunedin club is sending four teams and hopes to do well, but winning games has always come a distant second to promoting a social cause.
The club is throwing its weight behind Gumboot Friday — a free counselling services for people aged under 25.
Jekope Maiono is the driving force behind the club and said it had also started a programme called the Fiji sevens rugby experience.
"We select one of our players to go to Fiji for a month and play in a local tournament there and play in the Coral Coast Sevens."
Green Island outside back Travis Cashmore, nephew of former All Black Adrian Cashmore, is the first to benefit from the programme.
"This idea has been on my mind for a while now and we’re so excited to introduce our first candidate," Maiono said.
Cashmore has previously played for the University Bees and in the colts grade.
"He came into our sevens environment as a young promising sevens player and this is a perfect opportunity for him. He will link up with the Uluinakau Sevens under-20 team.
"He is like a rough diamond we are slowly trying to polish up to be really shiny.
"His programme will include a full five weeks of sevens training and playing in local sevens tournaments."
Cashmore will leave for Fiji on November 26. A highlight of the trip will be the Coral Coast Sevens in mid January.
Maiono hopes the programme will inspire more people to come and play for the club.
