Glittering memories
A playmaker who never kicks
WITH Christmas a day away, I thought to present you a rugby gift.
Instead of Santa Claus or some sweet cakes, this one is wrapped nicely in history with glittering memories.
One that Fijians cherish to date, but desired to be forgotten by the superpowers of rugby because this tiny South Sea nation of ours, scored one of the impossibles of world rugby 44 years ago.
August 15, 1977, at the then Buckhurst Park, now the ANZ Stadium in Suva, to be exact.
It was when Fiji shocked the world by beating the high and mighty British Lions 25-21 in front of about 20,000 fans. I learned that later as I grew up.
I was part of the crowd. My first international match. We watched from on top of our school teacher’s truck because the ground was full. I was part of a group of students who won oratory contests at school. A ticket to watch the British Lions Test against Fiji was the prize.
The British Lions underestimated Fiji after completing a torrid tour of New Zealand.
They hopped into the plane on the eve of meeting Fiji from Auckland thinking it was a good relaxation after the battles from the Land of the Long White Cloud.
They were wrong. They were shocked. That’s why it went down as one of the greatest Test matches to date.
From the top of that truck, one of the smallest players on the field was my pick of the day. He was the captain. The man, today, 74, is still the hero of many.
Including our Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, who last Thursday launched Emperor Bosco, the autobiography of that captain, Pio Bosco Tikoisuva. The book is the story of his life. Bainimarama said Tikoisuva’s life was “… certainly worth putting down to paper.
“This is the kind of story that would inspire anyone and we’re lucky that he has chosen to share his life’s journey with his fellow Fijians.”
This week this rugby great from Qeleni, Taveuni, shares how he led Fiji to rewrite rugby history in 1977.
Bosco: I was a winger right through even at Harlequins where Sir Clive Woodward was our firstfive-eighth. He went for further studies, so the coach who was a former All Blacks first five-eighth who pulled me from wing to first five. I told him I play second, centre, wing and fullback. He said, ‘Come, come.’ But we played well and won that season. It was the first time they saw Harlequins spreading the ball around. That time rugby in England involved the half-back and the first-fiveeighth as kickers. When they saw the ball spreading out, they started asking Harlequins players: ‘Why is Harlequins spreading the ball?’
The players said: “Our first five does not know how to kick.’ That was me and I did not know how to kick because I was on the wing all the time. One day we had a kicking competition, just the fullback and me, we call it caqe toso. Our fullback was a small guy but he could kick. When I kicked the ball and it spun, I asked ‘So, is that how you kick?’ When I came back, I continued my own kicking practice every afternoon at the Marist Brothers High School ground. That’s why in 1977, I was the best kicker in Fiji. That is something for these payers to learn that the coach tells you what to do on individual skills and all the rest. The practising is you on your own time, not during team training.
Team training is for team training where you can’t do your own practising skills. During the British Lions match, I kicked a drop goal and during the after-match function, Barry John (former Wales fly-half between the 1960s and early 1970s) came. He led the supporters group that came.
He said ‘Bos, that was a beautiful drop goal.’ I said ‘Do you know where I got it from?
When I left England, I got your biography in which you said ‘If you drop goal within the 25 metres, drop the ball, let it rise a bit and then kick it.
The ball will go straight and then go. If you do a 40-metre, as soon as the ball hits the ground kick it, the further it goes, the higher it rises.’ He shook his head and laughed. But it took practice to be able to do that.
Those are the individual skills that I am talking about. Our players should learn to practice at their own time. Give your own time because there is no time to do your own practise during team training.
Team training is for the team, not for individual skills.
The coach will tell you the skills and what to do in your position, but to practise it, that is at your own time. You have to master that.
I practised the skills I learnt at the Marist ground every evening.
You can buy a copy of Emperor Bosco at the Kundan Singh Shopping Complex at Samabula, Suva.
Until next week, have a safe, merry and meaningful Christmas.
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