Matavesi set to be Cornish club's first international since England's oldest surviving player

Camborne captain Sam Matavesi is set to become the Cornish club’s first senior international of a major rugby nation in over 70 years after being named in Fiji’s squad for the inaugural Nations Championship.

Fiji are scheduled to take on Wales, England and Scotland on consecutive Saturdays in July, with 34-year-old Matavesi likely to play a prominent part as one of the three hookers chosen by interim head coach Senirusi Seruvakula.

If Matavesi adds to his 35 caps, he will become the first Camborne player to play at that level since Phillip John Collins, who won three caps at full-back for England in 1952.

Collins, an engineering draughtsman by professsion, according to the excellent ‘Who’s Who of English Rugby’,  made his debut in a 19-3 Calcutta Cup win over Scotland and then appeared in subsequent victories over Ireland and France in the same championship.

Aged 98, he is England’s oldest surviving international player.

Cornishman Matavesi joined his hometown club Camborne in the summer of 2025, after the last of his Fiji caps against Scotland, and led them to the National 2 West title whilst playing alongside his brother Josh.

Following their promotion to National One – English rugby’s third tier – Camborne have recruited a third Matavesi brother, Joel, from French Nationale 1 outfit, Bourg-en-Bresse, making it a truly family affair.

Talking about the prospect of Sam Matavesi being capped whilst a Cherry & Whites player, Camborne President Terry Williams said: “It would be the first for 70-odd years. I know we have been gradually moving up the leagues the last few years but we still don’t expect really to have a full international playing for us. It’s outstanding.”

The Matavesis grew up in Camborne, as sons of a Fijian father and Cornish mother, before embarking on professional rugby careers in the UK and overseas.

“They all said when they came to the fag-end of their careers they would come back home and put something back into the club,” said Williams.

“They look on Camborne as their home. Sam played in the last two World Cups for Fiji and he’d get back into this country on a Tuesday, woud rock up for training on the Thursday and then coach the minis and juniors on the Sunday. That’s the level of commitment.”