Reece the latest flying Fijian
Sevu Reece will follow in the footsteps of Fijian flyers Joe Rokocoko, Sitiveni Sivivatu and Waisake Naholo when he this weekend becomes the 11th Fijian-born All Black and the fifth in the 21st century.
The Crusaders winger will wear the No 14 jersey for the All Blacks in their Rugby Championship opener against Argentina in Buenos Aires from 6.05am tomorrow (NZ time).
The 22-year-old’s rapid rise comes after he was almost lost to New Zealand Rugby (NZR) until Irish club Connacht decided to cancel his two-year contract after his domestic assault case last year.
Reece’s selection for the All Blacks was controversial after he was a revelation for the champion Crusaders team in his debut Super Rugby season, playing his way into
contention for the 31-man squad bound for the Rugby World Cup in Japan in September.
Born in Nadi, Reece was ironically picked ahead of fellow Fijian Naholo, the Highlanders star who will leave NZR after the World Cup for a contract in England with London Irish.
Naholo was the winger in the last World Cup year, in 2015, who catapulted himself into the All Blacks, even dramatically recovering from a broken leg that healed rapidly thanks to help from his uncle, who used a plant called kawakawarau during treatment in Fiji.
He played twice at that World Cup, starting in the group stages against Georgia and Tonga, and he scored with his first touch following a rampaging run in the 43-10 win over Georgia.
But the 28-year-old has struggled in 2019 with injuries and form and Reece has been outstanding for the Crusaders, finishing their campaign top of Super Rugby’s tryscoring charts with 15 in 16 games.
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen described Reece as a ‘‘pocket rocket’’ when announcing his Rugby Championship squad.
Reece will be the 11th Fijianborn player to pull on the black ❚ ❚ ❚ ❚ ❚ ❚ ❚ ❚ ❚ ❚ ❚ (1935-36: eight matches)
(1967: six matches)
(1979-84: 23 tests and 32 matches) (1988-89: 10 matches)
(1995-96: five matches) (1998: two tests) (2003-10: 68 tests and one match) (2005-11: 45 tests and one match) (2015-18: 26 tests and one match) (2016-17: three tests and two matches) (2019: test debut v Argentina tomorrow) Sourced from stats.allblacks.com
jersey and the seventh to play a test. The first was David Solomon who played eight matches on tour for the All Blacks in 1935-36.
The next wasn’t for another 31 years – Arthur Jennings who played six matches on the 1967 tour of Britain and France – and the first to play a test was 12 years later when Wellington stalwart Bernie Fraser played the first of his 32 tests in an 18-9 win over Argentina in Dunedin in 1979.
Fraser was a winger who finished his All Blacks career with 46 tries in 55 appearances, but only six were scored in tests.
There were three more Fijianborn All Blacks before the turn of the century after Fraser’s last match in 1984; prop Ron Williams, who would later play four tests for Fiji from 1994-95, played 10 tour matches from 1988-89; and Chiefs assistant coach Tabai Matson, formerly a midfielder for Canterbury and the Crusaders, played five tour matches from 1995-96.
Matson was another who would later play tests for Fiji – two at the 1999 World Cup – and former Blues wing Joeli Vidiri featured in two All Blacks tests against England and Australia in 1998.
Since Joe Rokocoko played the first of his 68 All Blacks tests in 2003, three more Fijian-born wings – Sitiveni Sivivatu, Naholo and Seta Tamanivalu – have followed, but when Tamanivalu, who played three tests and two matches, was first selected in 2016, he was primarily used as a midfielder.
Rokocoko spent seven years with the All Blacks and is jointsecond on their list with 46 for most tries in tests. Sivivatu also had an impressive strike rate (29 in 45).
Naholo is set to finish his All Blacks career with 16 tries from 26 tests and Reece is poised for his first in Buenos Aires.