Why Lima Sopoaga left New Zealand and forfeited the chance to play at a Rugby World Cup
It was 2017 when All Black Lima Sopoaga was initially approached by Wasps to join their set-up in England. It created a massive crossroads in the then 26-year-old’s career – should he forge ahead and try to earn a spot in the 2019 World Cup squad, achieving the ultimate dream of many a young New Zealand rugby player, or take the money and begin a new journey on foreign shores? You have to wind the clock back to understand how Sopoaga reached his ultimate decision.
It wasn’t the first time that the Wellington-born first five had received offers from overseas. Sopoaga had considered a move as early as 2013 when he was only a few years into his professional rugby career. The Highlanders had just completed their year from hell, finishing 14th on the competition ladder despite having brought in a number of experienced operators to complement their young talent.
“I’d actually been given an offer in Japan and I was about to take it,” Sopoaga told RugbyPass. “I learned that I didn’t even have to be an All Black to make good money. In 2013, we had the disaster in Dunedin. The rock stars came in and we still did ****. I was like ‘stuff that, I’m going to go’.”
But Sopoaga didn’t take the offer, instead choosing to stay in Dunedin and push harder. “I had some pretty honest conversations with a lot of people – one of them was Nasi Manu,” said Sopoaga. “We sat down and I remember he said: ‘You’ll know when your time is to leave.’ He believed that the best was yet to come for me and that I should keep at it and not to tap out when I was about to. That was essentially what had happened – we just decided to stay and I just gave it everything.”
It’s fair to say the decision paid off for the Highlanders pivot – less than two years later, the Highlanders were crowned Super Rugby champions and Sopoaga, who was the competition’s top scorer, received his first call-up to the All Blacks. Those two significant achievements make it one of Sopoaga’s most memorable seasons. “I had the best time ever, not only on the field but off the field,” said Sopoaga. “I achieved my dream and did something with some people that are pretty special to me.”
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Sopoaga’s first game for New Zealand came at first five against South Africa in Johannesburg with The Rugby Championship still on the line. As far as debuts go, they simply don’t come any tougher. Sopoaga took it all in his stride and did everything that was asked of him on the day, with the All Blacks emerging 27-20 victors. Then everything came crashing down. “It was like a fairy tale,” Sopoaga said. “It was like a fairy tale – but without the happy ending.”
Despite his exceptional performances for both the Highlanders and the All Blacks, Sopoaga was surplus requirements for the 2015 World Cup later that year. Instead, Steve Hansen opted to take Dan Carter, Colin Slade and Beauden Barrett to England. After playing his guts out and showing that he was one of the best playmakers in the country, Sopoaga was still left wanting.
“Obviously, people can say ‘if you play good enough, then you’re going to get picked’,” Sopoaga said. “But sometimes when you go to World Cups, it’s not just about how good you are but it’s also about the balance of the team. You can only take 31 guys and you may not necessarily take three specialist tens, you may only take two.”
It’s that rejection that played a major role in Sopoaga choosing to head offshore in 2018. “There was an opportunity here (in England) and it probably just came down to looking at some of the options for the All Blacks for 2019,” Sopoaga said. The No10 spot was well contested at the time and Sopoaga was just one option of many with two years still to play before the World Cup.
“When you’ve got someone like Damian McKenzie, you’ve got Richie (Mo’unga), you’ve got Beaudie (Barrett), Jodie Barrett is an option… not that I didn’t back myself, but I’d already gone through the heartbreak of missing 2015 and everything I went through that year, having to pull myself out of the gutter.”
There was also the issue that Sopoaga, despite being a superb flyhalf, wasn’t practised at covering any other positions. Contrast that to the Barrett brothers and McKenzie, who are all equally as capable at fullback as they are in the first-receiver role. “It was basically just a straight shoot-out between me and Richie,” said Sopoaga.
“So a lot of those things I thought about and I didn’t know if I was prepared to go through the heartbreak of missing out on selection or staying and missing out through injury a la someone like Damian McKenzie, who ended up sitting out through doing his ACL.”
It was these factors that ultimately led to Sopoaga making the call to sign overseas and head to England in 2018 instead of holding out and hoping to do the same with the All Blacks for the World Cup a year later. “The selection for a Rugby World Cup is never really yours,” Sopoaga said.
Sometimes old school just can't understand new school?https://t.co/HeCGH4LyDk
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 27, 2020
“I’d already gone through that heartbreak. I’d just had my first daughter and Wasps put in a great offer. Having someone else decide my fate just wasn’t something I wanted to go through again. So I decided to take the future into my own hands and let what will be, be.”
It’s a decision that the now-Wasps pivot has never regretted, despite some tough times in England. “I had a great time playing this game in NZ – and I’m still having a great time. I’m still having experiences that I wouldn’t have had if I’d stayed in New Zealand. It’s not too bad, whichever way you flip the coin.”
Ultimately, Hansen took Beauden Barrett and Richie Mo’unga as his two first fives – although the former never started a game at flyhalf, instead being utilised exclusively at fullback. Meanwhile, Jordie Barrett had a crack in the 10 jersey against Namibia. That doesn’t faze the now 29-year-old Sopoaga. “This is a decision that I made and I put it to bed a long time ago and I’m just happy for those guys that are still there,” he said.
“If someone said I was going to play 20 odd times for the All Blacks and travel around the world, make a debut in South Africa and kill it then, as a kid, I would have taken that with two hands and said thank you very much. I’ve been able to achieve a dream that so many kids around the world would love to achieve. I’m happy with what I’ve done and I was glad to leave it at that, move on and try something else.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I 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
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 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.
24 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.
24 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?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
24 Go to comments