How grief has brought Fiji’s ‘family’ even closer together
MARSEILLE — The wings of the self-styled Flying Fijians are a long way from being clipped at the Rugby World Cup, but they are being buffeted by testing winds.
Ahead of facing England in the quarter-finals in Marseille on Sunday – Fiji’s first appearance in the last eight since 2007 – they first had the centre Josua Tuisova remarkably playing on in the competition despite the tragedy of the death of his seven-year-old son, Tito.
Now the hooker Sam Matavesi, who plays his club rugby for Northampton Saints, has returned home to Cornwall to be with his family after the passing away on Tuesday night of his father, Sireli, a legend of Cornish rugby.
It is understood Matavesi is still expected to face England, partly as it would be the finest and most apt tribute to his father, and partly as Fiji’s other two hookers have six caps between them. This is itself a legacy of the vastly different schedule of Test fixtures between World Cups of a team from the top tier of world rugby – England – and one from the second tier in the Fijians.
Seremaia Bai, the Fiji kicking coach who played as a centre and wing for Leicester Tigers and for his national team, said on Wednesday: “We would like to send our condolences to Sam and the family. He’s one of our senior leaders and we’ll see in a couple of days if he is going to join us. He’s back in England. I think he left last night or this morning.”
The captain Waisea Nayacalevu had said of Tuisova on Sunday: “Words can’t express how thankful I am to [Tuisova] for doing that [playing on] for the team.”
Asked on Wednesday if these blows would make Fiji gather round the affected individuals and therefore become stronger as a team, Bai said: “For us in Fiji, family is everything. We are far away from Fiji, we have been 15 weeks from our own families since we started this campaign, so we make sure that this [team] becomes our family.
“If one suffers, we will emotionally suffer, even if we are from different provinces. We have become very close because we know each player of each family comes from humble beginnings, so we make sure of the care and the love that they need. Yes, it is a very tough moment but we need to stay together and care for one another.”
Fiji beat Australia and Georgia in their pool, while losing narrowly to Wales and, much more surprisingly Portugal last Sunday, to reach the last eight. In August they famously won a World Cup warm-up match against England, 30-22, at Twickenham.
With many of their players based at French clubs, Bai concurred with England No 8 Billy Vunipola’s view that Fiji are many people’s favourite second team here. As for the mood back home in the Pacific islands, the simple word “excitement” does not sum it up.
“I don’t call it excitement, I call it crazy,” said Bai. “I think it’ll be a one-week holiday in Fiji if we beat England.
“Everyone is getting up to watch [the matches] at three or five in the morning. We’ve just got to make sure we’re not just playing for a quarter-final, we’re playing for our people: young kids, people in the villages. It means a lot to them.
“We are the only tier two nation to make the quarter-finals [at this World Cup]. It’s not going to be easy but what a great opportunity for us to come against England. The last time we played them in the World Cup was in 1999. It’s an opportunity for us to go further than we have got before.”
