Middle Matavesi brother swaps ships for Pirates
ROYAL Navy back rower Sam Matavesi has revealed his ambition to follow brothers Josh and Joel into the Premiership after signing for Cornish Pirates.
Cornishman Matavesi, who is attached to 849 Squadron at the Royal Naval airbase at Culdrose, has been playing lower league rugby for Camborne and Redruth, but is highly rated after turning out for the Navy against the Army at Twickenham last season.
Matavesi, below, told The
Rugby Paper: “It’s great to see my brothers doing well at Newcastle and there’s always been a bit of chat about me following them into topflight rugby, but when I joined the Navy that made things a bit more difficult. “I’ve got a good opportunity to test myself in the Championship with the Pirates now, though, and if things work out I might consider a career break. “Guys like Semesa Rokoduguni (Bath) and Josh McNally (London Irish) have managed to combine rugby careers with working in the Services and it’s something I’d definitely look at, but first I’ve got to get in at the Pirates and give it a good crack.”
Matavesi, 25, aims to impress in back-to-back British & Irish Cup matches against Scarlets.
He said: “Pirates have picked up really well recently so I’ll look to get myself involved in the B&I Cup and then try to push into the Championship.
“To go from National Two rugby for Redruth into a televised clash against Bristol on Friday week would be awesome, but it’s all about getting opportu- nities and taking them and everybody at the Pirates is ambitious to play as high as they can.”
Beyond that, Matavesi even allows himself to dream of joining Josh in representing Fiji, adding: “We’re Truro-born but are proud of our heritage and playing international rugby is always the aim – if I play well for Pirates, you never know.
“There are plenty of people in the Championship who are playing Test rugby and I know Fiji are always looking at guys in different leagues.”