Tagive: I didn’t want breakthrough to end
RUGBY UNION Scotland call-up icing on cake for winger
GIVEN that Ratu Tagive’s career had been hurtling along at a furious lick in recent months, the global standstill brought on by the coronavirus has probably led to him getting whiplash such has been ferocity of the emergency stop.
The 28-year-old Australianborn winger has been at Glasgow Warriors since 2017 but he burst into the spotlight over the last year with a series of robust, athletic displays which ultimately led a call-up to the Scotland Six Nations squad. The signing of a new two-year deal at the Warriors yesterday gilded the lily even if the spread of the virus has brought the good times crashing to a halt.
“It was crazy, it really felt like the first day of school going into the Scotland camp even though I knew half the team there,” he reflected on his ascent to the national training camp. “It was exciting, and to work alongside the likes of Hoggy [Stuart Hogg] and see the way he operates and rub shoulders with others was great. I’m like a sponge, really. I pick up things and learn as much as I can. It was an amazing buzz. It’s been a real breakthrough season. I didn’t really want it to ever end.”
Tagive’s early opportunities with Glasgow were limited with the non-EU player limit but since becoming qualified the doors continue to open for him after those initial set-backs.
“It’s a real relief that’s not hanging over me anymore,” he said. “There had been a few chances that I missed because of the rule, and that’s just the way it was. There was a game last year against Munster when I was 24th man and then DTH van der Merwe went down during the week, Niko Matuwala who was on the bench had to start, and I went to the bench. We were about to jump on the bus to get to the airport and go to Cork and Dave [Rennie, Warriors coach] comes over. I could see the disappointment and knew something was up, and he said ‘Mate, we’ve stuffed up here, we can’t play you because we have Callum [Gibbons] and Nick Frisbee and we can only have two non-qualified’.”
With all that out of the way, Tagive continues to prosper and the chance to extend his stay in Glasgow was seized with both hands.
“They were the team that gave me a second crack at having a professional sporting career, so I couldn’t see myself going anywhere else,” said Tagive, who had a professional stint in rugby league back in Australia. “When we came across from Australia initially there was a lot of fear moving halfway across the world, not knowing anyone and all that. But I remember when I met Richie Vernon for the first time, he said, ‘Look mate, if there’s anything that you need, I’m here if you need any chat about fitting in or places to move to’.
“And I remember at Lee Jones’ wedding, and pre-season camp, Alex Allan and I were room-mates, giving each other a bit of stick about who was going to end up proposing first. We were quite close to each other in terms of timing when we got engaged. And he introduced me to the photographer that we eventually used to shoot our engagement, so it was little things like that – not all actually rugby stuff. Now it just feels like home.”
It seems Tagive has found his perfect match in the Glasgow Warriors.