A Melbourne-based scholarship program known as Rugby-Plus is combining on and off-field discipline and training to transform the fortunes of participants.
Now in its second year, the program is producing remarkable results.
A rugby union club in Melbourne is embracing the help of some young Fijian imports.
The players are part of a unique scholarship program with the Box Hill Broncos.
Most of the Fijian players hail from the remote island of Ovalau, where substance abuse, domestic violence and self-esteem issues are rife.
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Star player Isreli Qalo explains his own battle with drugs.
"I am a drug addicted person. I can't live without smoking weed for one day. Like, after 2-hours, I should take drugs."
His team-mate Mika Ruru says substance abuse continues to cause disharmony in their community.
"Normally the old people in our community and the villages they don't agree with what we do when we get drunk and all this stuff - when we get drunk we cause trouble around the village and our community."
Now drug and alcohol free, the men are in their second year of the 18-month scholarship program, which encourages self-discipline, personal standards and respect for authority.
Participants train and play as part of a team and share their passion for rugby at school clinics throughout Melbourne.
Rugby Plus founder Waqa Baravilala says the program encourages players to make positive life choices.
"One of the most important things we want to impart during out clinics or during our program is making positive choices. And sometimes it takes one simple right-choice to change your life. Sometimes, these young people, they have to un-learn a lot of things so that they can learn new things and make positive choices in their life. Putting them in a good environment will help them make some of these right choices."
Program participants say their off-field transformations are reflected in the game they love.
Isreli Qalo says the program - officially known as the Discipleship Training School, or DTS - has taught him to respect authority when he plays rugby.
"When I came to Australia I learned respect. Especially referees and touch judge - back in the islands we always swear at them and give them comments. But when I come here, when I go through this program, DTS, this course, it helps me a lot."
Once the program is finished, the men will return to their communities in Fiji.
Isreli says he plans to share his new outlook to improve village life.
"I will be a good role model and tell them that drugs and alcohol, it's all useless."
Waqa Baravilala says seeing the men turn their lives around makes the program worthwhile.
"It's a crowning glory of the journey to see them grab hold of these values and live by them and are committed to pass it on to other people."
