Like Father, Like Daughter
Wallaroos halfback follows her dad’s footstep- the legendary Isimeli Batibasaga
Halfback Iliseva Batibasaga knew as soon as the Wallaroos team was announced that her large rugby-mad family would be cheering for both sides at Suncorp Stadium.
She is a proud Australian yet her Fijian heritage is also ever-present in the way she plays and thinks about the game.
Listening to both anthems in the Wallaroos’ first Test for three years was one of her most emotional moments of her career.
It certainly was one of the proudest moments for her ever-smiling 74-year-old father Isimeli Batibasaga sitting in the grandstands.
Isimeli played 13 Tests as a mainstay for Fiji in the 1970s, including the 1972 Test against the Wallabies when Peter Sullivan, Russell Fairfax, Dick Cocks, Roy Prosser and Co visited Suva.
He was a scheming, dive-passing halfback himself who migrated to Brisbane where he played for Redcliffe, married Kathy and raised a family.
“I’m so proud of her. I will sing both anthems and my tears are going to run down,” the quietly-spoken patriarch said.
His daughter’s 16th Test is a milestone of remarkable longevity and sustained quality in a game that has often been miserly in scheduling internationals for women.
Wallabies captain Michael Hooper has played 118 Tests and he started his international career six years after Batisbasaga.
“Playing against Fijiana was a big occasion for the family with them coming to watch,” Ili said.
“The family told me they were cheering for both sides.
“It’s been three long years since the Wallaroos played a Test. Girls like Sera (Naiqama) have had potential Test debuts stripped away while we’ve ridden through the storm of cancellations and COVID.
“Opportunity after opportunity has been taken away. It’s not been fair but there’s a different vibe this week.
“We’re a hive of action and excitement. This is not a training camp but a Test camp with a reward. I’ve got goosebumps thinking about this.”
Journey
Iliseva, 37, made her Wallaroos debut as a perky 21-year-old in 2006 when she was playing in Brisbane.
She was the youngest in Australia’s 2006 Rugby World Cup squad to Canada which meant she was in charge of keeping Wallamina, the team’s fluffy toy wallaroo, out of trouble.
The toy mascot is now the responsibility of Perth’s 18-year-old Tamika Jones.
Iliseva played for Queensland in the early days when she was producing eye-popping stats like her 40 tries in 14 games for her Brothers club in 2007.
She shifted to Sydney in 2010 for greater opportunities and skill development under the eye of Wallaroos
coaches and built her career as an educational leader in early childhood teaching at the same time.
She has enormous pride in representing her family and the rise of women’s rugby.
“I’ve got some photos of dad playing. It didn’t really hit me about us playing the same position until I had older relatives say that watching me play was like watching dad play,” Iliseva said.
What part of her make-up is most naturally Fijian?
“In my family, we always say I’ve dad’s rugby and my mum’s brains,” she said with a laugh.
Trademark
Her dad Isimeli was the first Fijian rugby player to land in Australia from Namatakula village.
That speck on the coast has produced such rich rugby talent as Lote Tuqiri, Tevita Kuridrani, Chris Kuridrani and Nemani Nadolo. All are her cousins or nephews.
The Batibasaga dive pass was one of her father’s trademarks. He chuckled that it hasn’t always been a skill passed down successfully.
“I remember Ili diving for a try
for Queensland in one early game on the Gold Coast and her landing knee first,” Isimeli said.
“My advice to a halfback has always been as soon as you pass, just follow the ball.”It would be a
marvellous achievement for Batibasaga to push on to a third World Cup in New Zealand this year, 12 years after her last taste at the 2010 tournament in England.