20 stone Senitiki Nayalo: 'I was shocked to find I would need an agent'

It is sometimes said that playing, watching or coaching rugby can be an emotional experience.

However, this sentiment takes on a totally different meaning in mid-November each year when the sport pauses to remember those rugby players who lost their lives in the service of their country.

Coventry Rugby’s Senitiki Nayalo is also a member of the British Army. The annual minute of silence and rendition of the Last Post is therefore doubly significant to the Fijian-born forward.

“When I first came to Coventry I realised how important history is to everyone here,” he says.

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“Every November the club recognises those people who gave their life for their country and as I stand in line during the silence it is very emotional as I think of the Fijian guys who made that sacrifice.

“I know that without them we wouldn’t be here and it can be hard to keep everything together for the game that follows.”

Nayalo is now in his sixth season with the ambitious Championship leaders during which time he has built a reputation as a powerful ball-carrying no.8 who is also able to operate in the second row.

The 30-year-old joined Coventry, where he has now claimed 22 tries in 80 games, following initial forays into professional rugby with London Irish and Edinburgh.

However, this was far from being his life plan when he left his mother and seven siblings in the family home with the aim of supporting them financially through an Army career.

“My Dad had passed away which meant my Mum was looking after eight of us,” he says. “I am the oldest man in the family and after leaving school much too early I had a job on a farm and helped her with her work on the river and at the market.

“I never thought of being in the Army but as I was growing up in Sigatoka a pastor at the church mentioned it. When the door opened for me to come to England and join up I knew it would help me look after our family by sending money back.

“When I first arrived in England I had to pass through phases one and two of the Army’s training which took around four months before joining my regiment 7 Para RHA in Colchester.

“It was a totally different life for me; the first time I had left Fiji which meant everything was new. I arrived here in winter and couldn’t believe how cold it was. I really missed home when I was first here but I made friends with some Fijian families in my regiment and then gradually got to know other people and they all made me feel very welcome.

“To start with having English as a second language made it difficult and naturally we are shy to speak, but having the Army connection encouraged me to speak up.”

“In my first two years in England after playing for my regiment – which had the reputation as being the best team – and both sevens and fifteens for the Army I realised I could perhaps do a bit more and push myself.

“I had played rugby for my province in Fiji and I realised there would also be an opportunity to play for a club in England as quite a number of the senior Fijian guys at the time had joined the British Army and done that.

“The Army were really good and they helped me loads. I was really shocked to find I would need an agent and they sorted one out for me and since then they have always been really helpful about releasing me.

“I started off by playing some sevens and Nick Kennedy who was coach at London Irish asked me to go there for a trial. I joined them for two seasons before moving to Edinburgh for a year then coming to Coventry in 2019.”

While rugby has become a big part of his life, Lance Bombardier Nayalo of the 7 Parachute Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery remains very much an active soldier.

‘Tiki’ as he is known by the Coventry teammates and supporters with whom he has become so popular since making his debut in 2018, plus his wife and two children live in army accommodation near Nuneaton.

He also spends much of his summer break cramming in the courses and training that will one day allow him to return to the Army on a full-time basis.

He says: “I have quite a lot of courses to do each year and because we have such a long season with Coventry it is always tricky to fit them in. I end up trying to do as much as possible during the off-season break.

“I am very lucky to have the Army supporting me and also to go back to when I finish playing. When London Irish and Wasps went under some of the players had nothing so it is great for me to have another option.”

Sport remains a focal point for the British armed forces and Nayalo is following in the footsteps of his former Coventry teammate Junior Bulumakau, ex-England winger Semesa Rokodoguni and countless others by being an islander who has starred in the inter-services rugby competition.

Nayalo screws up his face and tries to recall how many Twickenham appearances he has now made in the hugely-popular Army-Navy match before eventually arriving at five or six. However, he has no such difficulty in recalling his contribution to the most recent instalment of this historic series – a 43-42 epic in which his hat-trick sparked an Army comeback that saw him named as player-of-the-match.

“I really enjoy going back to my regiment and playing for the Army,” he says. “I have been very fortunate to play at Twickenham in front of big crowds and last year was a really good game. To be there with all your mates in such a great atmosphere makes it a fantastic day and it was great to see all the work everyone had put in come together.”

Tickets for Cov’s next home game in the cup against Northampton on Saturday November 23rd can be purchased at https://www.coventryrugby.co.uk/tickets/matchday-tickets/