Wacokecoke wants to play consistant rugby
BORN and raised in Fiji, George Wacokecoke has one thing in mind, and that is to be the best player.
The 25-year-old centre has played a major role in Newcastle Falcons’ stunning start to this season and made his full Premiership debut against Bristol last weekend.
George, who hails from Cautata Village in Bau, Tailevu moved to England at the age of seven because of his father Josaia’s service in the British Army.
Wacokecoke was in the Northampton Saints and Bath’s academies before moving to the North East to play for Darlington Mowden Park and Northumbria University, from where he earned England Students honours.
Making his Premiership debut for the Falcons at the end of the 2018 season and going on to become a regular this term, Wacokecoke can play at centre or wing and scored nine tries in his 16 appearances for the Falcons before signing a new two-year deal.
“Rugby has been a massive part of my life and the journey to get where I am today has been a tough but rewarding one,” he said.
“My future plans are to play well and consistently for my club and try to be the best player that I can be.
“I played most of my rugby through my school years with St Joseph’s College and Northampton Saints academy from the ages of 12-18.
“When it came time to talk about contracts in my final year of school I didn’t get offered anything, which was a massive blow for me as I hadn’t had any major setbacks in my life before.
“From there I struggled to pick my confidence up and was trying to find my feet as rugby player as well as a person and I half-heartedly went through the motions in my years with Bath and Darlington Mowden Park.
“After my contract with DMP had finished, I had no contract offers to go anywhere and was in a bit of a rut at the point of my life.
“Luckily, I got asked if I wanted to go university through my coach and then teammate Darren Fearn and I happily accepted.
“During my university years I worked a lot of random jobs and learnt a lot about the real world and how tough things are and how privileged we are as rugby player to be able to get paid to do something we love.
“During university years, I would sporadically get invited to Newcastle Falcons’ training sessions where I would learn a lot from players such as Niki Goneva, Sinoti Sinoti and Toby Flood just to name a few.
“From there got I offered a deal going into the year we got relegated. That year, was a whirlwind having played a lot more rugby than I had expected I started to find my feet within the squad and had learned a lot from playing regularly.
“Going into this season, I had a minor setback with having done my hamstrings at the beginning of preseason I was out for two and a half months and now I’m back playing and am enjoying the challenges of competing against world-class players.”
When he was asked if he would want to play for the Flying Fijians or England, Wacokecoke replied, it’s first thing’s first.
“In terms of country call-ups, I’m not putting anything concrete as an answer as I have yet to earn the right to have this as a prominent problem.”
My future plans are to play well and consistently for my club and try to be the best player that I can be – George Wacokecoke