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'I'm not really disappointed... I'm positive' - Taqele Naiyaravoro on RWC misfortune, his Fijian heritage and life at Northampton
Taqele Naiyaravoro is a proud Fijian. There are those who doubt his loyalty, those who haven’t forgotten how the Yasawa-born islander flirted with Michael Cheika’s Wallabies and made himself ineligible for the country of his birth by twice being capped by Australia.
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There have been swings and roundabouts since then, even a tentative plan hatched to get him to play for the Fijians at sevens level this year and exploit some sort of loophole that could have somehow seen him become available for John McKee in time for the World Cup in Japan.
That eventually became a route best left unexplored. However, the battering ram winger hasn’t relinquished all hopes that one day in the future he might yet get to wear that cherished white jersey and do his young family proud.
They are living these days in Northampton in the English midlands, Franklin’s Gardens being the latest pitstop in a circuitous playing career where Naiyaravoro has been previously employed at club level in Glasgow, Sydney and Ota.
But their island heritage remains vibrant, Naiyaravoro using a 10-day break from the Saints’ extended pre-season as an opportunity to take the family home to Fiji this week even though three of those days would be taken up by the arduous 20,000-kilometre round trip.
“It’s a day and a half (each way),” he told RugbyPass before setting out on an expedition he makes a point of taking annually to ensure home ties remain very strong. “I have got 10 days off so it’s good. I wouldn’t go if there was just five days.
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“For me it’s to see my family. My brothers and my sister, my mum and dad are all still in Fiji, so it’s just going back and seeing family and getting some sun before I come back into the cold. That is the main part.
“It’s also just taking my kids over. I try and take them back to Fiji every year just so they can get back into their culture, meet their grandparents and their family. It’s just building that relationship with my kids and I want them to have a firm grasp of their Fiji heritage which is why we try and go every year.”
This latest trip, though, will surely reinforce in Naiyaravoro his desire to eventually don his country’s colours if at all possible. There was the 27-year-old this week at home in Fiji surrounded by the buzz that enveloped the country with their national team flying out to New Zealand to play a warm-up Test versus Tonga in Auckland before heading on to the World Cup in Japan.
Missing out isn’t a subject he wants to dwell on much. That ship has clearly sailed. “I’m not really disappointed. I’m positive,” he insisted. “It’s more for me to move on and say probably next time or next year if I could get another Test, another opportunity to play. But now I’m not really disappointed. They [Fiji] have got a really good squad and I think all I can do is just support them and see how they go at the World Cup.”
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For Naiyaravoro it’s the third RWC he has now missed out on. In 2015, the disappointment was most acute. He had just made his Australian debut in a September smashing of the United States in Chicago only to be told by Cheika he was the odd man out and wouldn’t be travelling on to London for the tournament that saw the Wallabies go all the way to the final.
“Yeah, it’s a bit of a deja vu thing,” he said, attaching his 2019 misfortune to what occurred four years ago with Australia, a blow that followed on from him missing the 2013 League World Cup with Fiji due to injury.
“It was just the wrong time for me the last time at that World Cup. I had actually joined the code of rugby union from rugby league, so I didn’t really know the importance of the World Cup and all that is happening… but like I said, the World Cup isn’t a really big issue for me.
“I have the club season here at Northampton that I can do well in. For me, the World Cup is the pinnacle of rugby and probably by the next one I will be more hopeful of going.”
If there was a silver lining to that England 2015 knock-back, it was that he squirrelled himself away to Japan to further his union education. His stint with the Panasonic Wild Knights is something still very vivid with the rugby world now set to congregate in the Far East for a World Cup of much significance.
“It was a highlight of my career, getting to spend time over in Japan. I really loved it and maybe in the future, in my retirement, I will go back. It’s such a beautiful place, very respectable culture, a lot of good people and a competition that is tough. It is hard to catch those Japanese players.
“The World Cup? People will really enjoy it. It’s a nice place, good food, respectable people and it’s just a lot of experiences which is all good. Japan did really well at the last one, beating South Africa, and in the prep towards the World Cup now they have done some really big upsets in the Pacific Nations Cup.
Our 2014 NSW debutants, what a year to become a Tah! @TaqeleN @jonno_lance @fanga9 @ToluLatu @TalaGray @HRoachy pic.twitter.com/FoAGBm3ikg
— NSW Waratahs (@NSWWaratahs) August 26, 2014
“By the looks of it, they are going to have a very good campaign. They are in a tough pool, but having the World Cup in Japan will boost up the club competition. Hopefully, it will get more players and the competition will be a lot better than it is. I can’t wait to see what happens after the World Cup – it will open up many doors.”
It was February 2018 when it was announced that Northampton would be Naiyaravoro’s latest port of call and he arrived having broken Israel Folau’s single-season try-scoring record with the Waratahs in Super Rugby. That potency has since continued, his seven tries in 20 outings having an influence in Saints’ unexpected run to the Gallagher Premiership semi-finals, and he is targeting an even greater impact in 2019/20.
“I settled in pretty well, quicker than I thought. A lot of the boys helped me. Northampton is such a good town. A lot of people have helped us settle in and it’s easy to get around. I’m enjoying every minute. The kids are in school and enjoying it, and it’s close to London. It’s pretty central to everything we have wanted as a family.
Taqele Naiyaravoro:
• Very big
• Very fast
• Very scaryYou don't see many people swatting Billy V away ? pic.twitter.com/Xp80DR2ek4
— Rugby on BT Sport (@btsportrugby) September 16, 2018
“Last year I came in and pretty much started straight into the season but now I’m lucky enough to actually do a pre-season with the boys and prepare with them. It’s a big season as well after finishing off in the top four. Our goal now is to do better than what we did last season.”
The reason they did so well? “It was just the players we have here and the game plan Chris (Boyd) put in, the direction that he put in for the team pretty much suited the players that we have here. They like to run the ball and it just worked well.
“This pre-season we have been working really hard and looking to do what we did last year a lot better. That is what drove us last year, taking on a new game plan and just making it work.”
WATCH: Part one of Operation Jaypan, the two-part RugbyPass documentary on what the fans can expect to experience at the World Cup in Japan
Comments on RugbyPass
Jake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
11 Go to commentsNZ rugby seem not to have learnt anything from professional rugby. Super rugby was dying and SA left before they died with the competition. SA rugby did a u turn on their approach to international players playing overseas and such players are now selected for Bok teams. As much as each country would love to retain their players playing in local competitions, this is the way the world is evolving my friends. Move with it or stay 20 years behind the times. One more thing. NZ rugby hierarchy think they are the big cheese. Take a more humble approach guys. You do not seem to have your players best interests at heart.
3 Go to commentsBeaches? In Cardiff? Where?
1 Go to commentsHe is right , the Crusaders will be a threat. Scott Barrett, ( particularly), Fergus Burke , Codie Taylor, ( from sabbatical) etc due back soon for the Crusaders. There are others like Zach Gallagher too. People can right the Crusaders off, Top 8 , here we come !!
1 Go to commentsWe will always struggle for money to match the other sides but the least the WRU can do is invest properly in Welsh rugby. Too much has been squandered on vanity projects like the hotel and roof walk amongst others which will never see a massive return. Hanging the 4 pro sides out to dry over the last decade is now coming back to bite the WRU financially as well as on the pitch. You reap what you sow.
1 Go to commentsWhat do you get if you cross a doctor with a fish? A plastic sturgeon
14 Go to commentsWhat happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
3 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
1 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
3 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
11 Go to commentsThe Springboks tried going down the road of only picking home-based players and it was an unmitigated disaster in 2016 and 2017. Picking overseas-based players has been one of the main reason the Boks have done so well since 2018, not only because of the quality Rassie could call on, but because of the knowledge and experience those players brought into camp from England, France and Japan. With some of the big names playing abroad it also gave younger players in SA the chance to break through at franchise level. Would we have seen the emergence of a Ruan Nortje if RG and Lood were still at the Bulls? Not so sure. I understand why Jake would want to block players leaving since his job depends on good results but it’s an approach that would take Bok rugby back to the bad old days and no South African wants to see that.
11 Go to commentsExeter were thumped by 38 points. And they only had to hop on a train.
39 Go to commentsI am De Groot.
1 Go to commentsHad hoped you might write an article on this game, Nick. It’s a good one. Things have not gone as smoothly for ROG since beating Leinster last year at the Aviva in the CC final. LAR had the Top 14 Final won till Raymond Rhule missed a simple tackle on the excellent Ntamack, and Toulouse reaped the rewards of just staying in the fight till the death. Then the disruption of the RWC this season. LAR have not handled that well, but they were not alone, and we saw Pau heading the Top 14 table at one stage early season. I would think one of the reasons for the poor showing would have to be that the younger players coming through, and the more mature amongst the group outside the top 25/30, are not as strong as would be hoped for. I note that Romain Sazy retired at the end of last season. He had been with LAR since 2010, and was thus one of their foundation players when they were promoted to Top 14. Records show he ended up with 336 games played with LAR. That is some experience, some rock in the team. He has been replaced for the most part by Ultan Dillane. At 30, Dillane is not young, but given the chances, he may be a fair enough replacement for Sazy. But that won’be for more than a few years. I honestly know little of the pathways into the LAR setup from within France. I did read somewhere a couple of years ago that on the way up to Top 14, the club very successfully picked up players from the academies of other French teams who were not offered places by those teams. These guys were often great signings…can’t find the article right now, so can’t name any….but the Tadgh Beirne type players. So all in all, it will be interesting to see where the replacements for all the older players come from. Only Lleyd’s and Rhule from SA currently, both backs. So maybe a few SA forwards ?? By contrast, Leinster have a pretty clear line of good players coming through in the majority of positions. Props maybe a weak spot ? And they are very fleet footed and shrewd in appointing very good coaches. Or maybe it is also true that very good coaches do very well in the Leinster setup. So, Nick, I would fully concurr that “On the evidence of Saturday’s semi-final between the two clubs, the rebuild in the Bay of Biscay is going to take longer than it is on the east coast of Ireland”
11 Go to commentsWhat was the excuse for the other knockout blowouts then? Does the result not prove the Saints were just so much better? Wise call to put your eggs in one basket when you’ve got 2 comps simultaneously finishing.
39 Go to commentsReally hope Kuruvoli and his partner rock the Canes.
1 Go to commentsI wonder what impact Samson has had on their attack, as the team seems less prone to trundle it up the middle, take the tackle and then trundle it up again. I lost faith in the coach last year as the Rebelss looked like a 2nd/3rd rate South African team. I also disliked Gordon standing back, often ignored as the forward battle went on and on. Maybe its our Aussie way of not getting off our A***’s until the enemy is at the gate.
86 Go to comments