Ben Volavola can't wait to start learning from 'greatest player of all time'
Ben Volavola has welcomed Dan Carter’s return to Racing 92, even though the re-signing of the legendary All Black will likely see the Fijian out-half slip down the pecking order at the French Top 14 club.
Despite playing a massive part in his counrty’s shock November win over France at the Stade de France, Volavola, who signed from Bordeaux last summer, has played second fiddle all season at Racing to Finn Russell, the Scotland international brought in to replace Carter.
While he has featured in 17 matches, a dozen in the Top 14, Volavola has accumulated a mere 453 on-pitch minutes and has started on just three occasions.
The arrival of Carter from Japan ahead of the business end of the season is set to further restrict Volavola’s opportunity at getting a lasting look-in, but the 28-year-old is is viewing the arrival of the New Zealander as an opportunity to learn as much as he can from the household name in the next few months.
“I admired Dan Carter throughout my childhood,” said Volavola in the weekend edition of French rugby newspaper Midi Olympique. “He is the greatest player of all time and in Fiji, if we support our national team first, the one that comes right behind is the All Blacks.
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“When I was little, I tried in my garden to copy his shot at goals and this technique still follows me today. I have a lot to learn from a player like him.”
Only in his second season in France following a career that had seen the Sydney-born Fijian play Super Rugby for Waratahs, Crusaders and Rebels, Volavola used his French media interview as a window to introduce himself to that country’s wider rugby public.
Excited to be joining my Ciel et Blanc brothers for the remainder of the Top 14 Season in France. I’m coming back mid season as a Medical Joker. It was very sad to hear about @PatLambie’s… https://t.co/Ari5ZyB9Gm
— Dan Carter (@DanCarter) February 18, 2019
“My name, Volavola, means ‘to write’ in Fijian. I was born in Sydney before leaving Australia as a one-year-old with my mother. We moved to Fiji until I was eight. Then we went back to Sydney where I started rugby. In fact, my two parents are Fijians, but I have a strong Indian heritage on my father’s side. I am a half-blood, like many of my compatriots!
“I really knew that I wanted to become a professional rugby player in Manly, a suburb of Sydney. There, I played for example with Michael Hooper, the Wallabies flanker. Then I was recruited by the Waratahs: I stayed there three years and we even won the Super Rugby in 2014.
That time @BenVolavola and @nemani_nadolo combined to score this beauty for @fijirugby at #RWC2015 pic.twitter.com/vtZ2E2rv7Q
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) August 21, 2018
“I spent a year at the Crusaders. When I got there, Dan Carter had just joined Racing. Then there were the Rebels and North Harbour, New Zealand. I have a lot of bad luck. Then Bordeaux recruited me.
“I didn’t succeed what I wanted to accomplish with them. I wasn’t good enough and the club decided to release me before the end of my contract. It was then that Racing extended my hand.”
Volavola’s career as a professional rugby player makes him celebrity in his own right. However, in the past two years he has got to know what the celebrity status is like in the movie world as he has been dating American actress Shailene Woodley.
“In Fiji two years ago I was competing in the Pacific Nations Cup and she was filming the film Adrift. Filming continued in New Zealand. It was fine, I was playing at the time for North Harbour, so we continued to see each other and now we live together in Paris. I’m blessed to have met a girl like her.
Love can weather any storm. Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin star in #AdriftMovie – Available now on Digital HD, on Blu-ray & DVD. https://t.co/wvXt6cyD2Z pic.twitter.com/sQXYLLOr7b
— Adrift Movie (@AdriftMovie) September 7, 2018
“Before me, she had never watched sports on TV. Since then, she has started to learn the rules of rugby. She even comes to see us at the Arena,” he said, admitting he imagines his own acting skills would leave much to be desired.
“I’m a real catastrophe… I’m already very bad when I’m interviewed on camera to talk about my sport, so I don’t even imagine what it would be if I was asked to play someone other than me.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Oh wow… “But as La Rochelle proved in winning in Cape Town this season, a cross-continental away assignment need not spell the end of days.” La Rochelle actually proved quite the opposite. After traveling to Cape town and back they (back-to-back and current champs) got mercilessly thumped the next week. If travel is not the reason, why else would a full-strength powerhouse like La Rochelle get dumped on their @r$e$ one week later?
26 Go to commentsYou know he can land a winning conversion after the full time siren is up. (Even if it takes two attempts.)
5 Go to commentsA very insightful article from Jake. I would love to know how South African’s feel about their move to Europe. Do you prefer playing in Europe or want to go back to Super Rugby?
2 Go to commentspure fire
1 Go to commentsA very well thought out summary of all the relevant complications…agree with your ”refer the Cricket Test versus 20/20 comparison”. More also definitely doesn't necessarily mean better!
2 Go to commentsMust be something when you are only 19 y.o and both NZ and France want you. Btw he wasn’t the only new caledonian in french U20 as Robin Couly also lived in Noumea until 17. Hope he’s successful wherever he chooses to play.
7 Go to comments“Several key players in the Stade Rochelais squad are in their thirties” South Africans are going to hate the implications of that comment!
5 Go to commentsI know Leinster did a job on La Roche but shortly after HT Leinster were 30-13 ahead of them and at a similar time Toulouse were trailing Exeter. At 60 mins Leinster were 27 ahead but after 67 mins Toulouse were only 19 ahead before Exeter collapsed. That’s heavier scoring by Leinster against the Champions. I think people are looking at Toulouses total a little too much. I also think Northhampton are in with a real chance, albeit I’d put Leinster as favourites. If Leinster make the final I expect them to win by more than ten and with control.
5 Go to commentsHey Nick, your match analysis is decent but the top and tail not so much, a bit more random. For a start there’s a seismic difference in regenerating any club side over a test team. EJ pretty much had to urinate with the appendage he’d been given at test level whereas club success is impacted hugely by the budget. Look no further than Boudjellal’s Toulon project for a perfect example. The set ups at La Rochelle and Leinster are like chalk and cheese and you are correct that Leinster are ahead. Leinster are not just slightly ahead though, they are light years ahead on their plans, with the next gen champions cup team already blooded, seasoned and developing at speed from their time manning the fort in the URC while the cream play CC and tests. They have engineered a strong talent conveyor belt into their system, supported by private money funnelled into a couple of Leinster private schools. The really smart move from Leinster and the IRFU however is maximising the Irish Revenue tax breaks (tax relief on the best 10 years earnings refunded at retirement) to help keep all of their stars in Ireland and happy, while simultaneously funding marquee players consistently. And of course Barrett is the latest example. But in no way is he a “replacement for Henshaw”, he’s only there for one season!!! As for Rob Baxter, the best advice you can give him is to start lobbying Parliament and HMRC for a similar state subsidy, but don’t hold your breath… One thing Cullen has been very smart with is his coaching team. Very quickly he realised his need to supplement his skills, there was talk of him exiting after his first couple of years but he was extremely shrewd bringing in Lancaster and now Nienaber. That has worked superbly and added a layer that really has made a tangible difference. Apart from that you were bang on the money… 😉😂
5 Go to commentsNot sure exactly what went wrong for him at Glasgow but it’s pretty clear he ain’t Franco’s cup of tea. Suspect he would have been better served heading out of Scotland around the same time as Finn, Hoggy and Jonny!
1 Go to commentsBulls disrespected the Northampton supporters and the competition. Decide quickly, fully in or out.
26 Go to commentsI wonder if Parling was ever on England’s radar as a coach? Obviously Borthwick is a great lineout coach, but I do worry he might be taking on too much as both head coach and forwards coach.
1 Go to commentsJason Jenkins has one cap. When Etzebeth was his age he had over 80 caps. Experience matters. He will never amount to what Etzebeth has because he hasn’t been developed as an international player.
2 Go to commentsSays much about the player picking this gig over the easier and bigger rewards offered to him in Japan. Also says a lot about the state sanctioned tax benefits the Irish Revenue offers pro rugby players, with their ten highest earning years subject to an additional 40% tax relief and paid as a lump sum, in cash, at retirement. Certainly helps Leinster line up the financial ducks in a row to fund marquee signings like this!!! No other union anywhere in world rugby benefits from this kind of lucrative financial sponsorship from their government…
5 Go to commentsTrue Jordie could earn a lot more in Japan. But by choosing Leinster he’ll be playing with 1 of the best clubs in the world and can win a champions cup and URC…..
6 Go to commentsThanks for that Marshy, noticed you didn't say who is gonna win it. We know who ain't gonna win it - your Crusaders outfit. They've gone from having arguably the best Super Rugby first five ever, to having a clutch of rookies. Hurricanes all the way!
1 Go to commentsGeez you really have to question the NRLs ability to produce players of quality. Its pathetic. Dont the 25mil in Aus produce enough quality womens players. Sad.
1 Go to commentsBulls fan here, and agree 100% with the conclusion (and little else) of this article. SA sides should absolutely f-off from the champs cup until we get fair scheduling, equal support for travel arrangements and home semis. You know, like all the european teams get.
26 Go to commentsI’m yet to see why Grace would be an ABs contender. He’s pedestrian and lacks the dominance required of a top flight 8.
11 Go to commentsGee my Highlanders were terrible. They have gone backwards since the start of the season. The trouble began when we left Millar behind to prep as the 10 against the Brumbies and he was disconnected from the team that came back from Aussie. We rested Patchell for that game and we blew an avalanche of ball in good attacking positions in the 1st half. Against the Rebels we seem to of gone into a pod system with forwards hanging off from the breakdown leaving Fakatava to secure our ball!
80 Go to comments