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From Fiji U17 football team to dream Wallabies call-up: Filipo Daugunu's remarkable rugby journey
When people talk of code switches within the world of rugby, it’s usually about players transitioning between rugby union and rugby league.
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In the case of those such as Jarryd Hayne and Christian Wade, there are a few examples of rugby players coming in and out of the NFL, while others like former Wallabies pair Israel Folau and Karmichael Hunt have both had stints in Aussie Rules.
There aren’t many, though, who initially made a name for themselves as football players while growing up before making a career out of rugby, but that’s exactly what new Wallabies wing Filipo Daugunu has done.
One of 16 new caps named in Dave Rennie’s 44-man Wallabies squad last month for the upcoming Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship, the 25-year-old could be in line to make his international debut against the All Blacks in Wellington next Sunday.
Such a feat would be a remarkable milestone given where Daugunu started as a national age-grade football representative for his native Fiji.
Born in the town of Labasa, Daugunu played both the round-ball and oval-ball codes as a schoolboy, going on to represent Fiji at junior levels in both sports.
He told media on Friday that juggling the two sports was a tricky balancing act, recalling how as a youngster he would play in sevens tournaments, leave early to play in a football match, and then return to finish off the tournament.
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You would be excused for thinking he was speedy wing or prolific striker due to his impressive athleticism during his time with the Fiji U17 football side, but the try-scoring Reds wing said he was instead picked as a goalkeeper.
“In high school I was doing high jump,” Daugunu said. “That’s why they picked me up, because I jump high, so they called me to try goalkeeper.”
Part of the squad that finished fourth in their group at the 2011 Oceania U17 Championship in Auckland, Daugunu managed one appearance off the bench in a 1-0 loss to New Zealand.
Just 10 days out from the opening Bledisloe Cup test against the All Blacks, there is a debate brewing among the Wallabies coaches.https://t.co/5hEbXgZJtz
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 1, 2020
Four years later, he was representing Fiji again, this time at the 2015 World Rugby U20 Trophy in Portugal, scoring two tries and kicking two conversions across four matches en route to a fifth-place finish.
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Fast forward a further five years, and Daugunu is now in Christchurch as he prepares to play for his adopted nation, the one he moved to in 2017 after being involved in Fiji’s national sevens set-up.
Opting to play club rugby in Brisbane rather than play on the World Sevens Series for the Flying Fijians appears to have paid dividends following multiple standout seasons in both the National Rugby Championship and Super Rugby.
Only qualifying to play for Australia on residency grounds this year, Daugunu said he is fulfilling the dream he has held since first relocating to Queensland.
“It means a lot to me, my family back home,” he said of possibly running out in the green and gold jersey at Sky Stadium next week.
“When I moved here, my dream was to play Wallabies, and to play first game with the All Blacks would be [special].”
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments