Tribute to Fijian rugby
From Hollywood to Ben and the Flying Fijians
Fiji Airways Flying Fijians fly half Ben Volavola prepares to catch the ball during his team’s training session at the Docomo Osaka Nanko ground in Osaka, Japan.
FIJI’S No.10 Ben Volavola is best known for a career that went from strength to strength after he was rejected by the Waratahs and the Crusaders.
The Fiji-born, Sydney-raised Endeavour Sports High and Newington College product hit a dead end in NSW in 2015, aged just 25.
The goal-kicking five-eighth and fullback had short spells for the Crusaders (seven games in 2016) and Rebels, and after switching his eligibility to the nation of his birth, made his debut for the Flying Fijians.
Volavola has flown under the radar since, despite a starring role in Fiji’s transformation and shift up the rankings. Last night the former Southern Districts playmaker led Fiji around the park in their attempt to upset Wales in Oita.
Volavola, who also played in New Zealand for Canterbury in 2016 and North Harbour in 2017, is also in a long-term romance with American actor Shailene Woodley, of Big Little Lies and Divergent fame.
The former Waratah, who now plays for French club Racing 92, is intensely private about their relationship and, after deleting his Instagram account, would not even confirm the pair were still dating.
But Woodley, who met Volavola when she was filming in Fiji, took to the social-media platform at the start of the World Cup to wish him and the Test team good luck.
Under a portrait of the No.10, she wrote: “Sports held no significance to me before I met Ben. Over the past few years, I have learned more from the discipline, the dedication, the levity, the sacredness, the mental skills, the intensity, and the character exemplified in this sport than I have through any other medium.”
Woodley paid tribute to the spirit of Fijian rugby and asked her 4.4 million followers to send the Flying Fijians “a little prayer and some good, grounding energy”.
“It’s a monumental and historical moment for this stunning nation and I couldn’t feel more blessed to call these men my brothers, and to have one extra special one who will live in my heart forever as the first man to show me what “true” unconditional support, love, grace, compassion, humour, comfort, and unadulterated joy looks like,” she said.
Volavola is one of a huge number of Australians plying their trade for other countries around the world.
Another Waratahs reject, second-rower Greg Peterson, is making his second World Cup appearance for the USA. He has carved out a career at several European
clubs, including Glasgow Warriors, Bordeaux and his new home the Newcastle Falcons.
Peterson, a Manly product whose mother and father were American, told the Sydney Morning Herald leaving home was the best thing he did for his career.
“I was a bit disappointed (at the time) but, for me, the door was almost closed. My agent said to me ‘you might have to play club rugby until after the next World Cup’ and I wasn’t too keen on that,” Peterson said.
“I knew I could do well and I just backed myself and had a gamble. The USA Eagles have given me so much and I’m so glad for the places I’ve been.
“I do say to the boys who might be struggling at home to try and get over to Europe because they’ll love it.
“That’s not me telling people to have a mass exodus out of Australia — I loved my time in the Shute Shield and the NRC.
“I spoke to a bunch of Australian Schoolboys when they played the Scotland under-18s (last year) and a couple of them said ‘I should come over to Europe’ but I said ‘no, ply your trade (in Australia) first, learn in the Shute Shield, go through the ranks’ ... I think it’s a great system.” STUFF