'I wanted to stay': Why Suliasi Vunivalu rejected the NRL for the Wallabies
Despite his limited pro rugby experience, Suliasi Vunivalu says playing in four NRL grand finals with Melbourne means he can handle the pressure of a Wallabies debut in the England test series next month.
The 26-year-old winger is finally injury-free and eager to get his international career started ahead of next year’s Rugby World Cup in France.
With Marika Koroibete a Wallabies test certainty, Vunivalu’s selection would see the Fiji-born duo reunited as a wing pair for the first time since the 2016 NRL grand final, which the Storm lost to Cronulla.
Koroibete then switched to rugby union, with Vunivalu following him at the end of 2020.
Australia haven’t beaten England in their last eight attempts, but Vunivalu says he’s ready for the challenge if he gets the nod from Wallabies coach Dave Rennie with the first test in Perth on July 2.
“100 percent – I’ll back myself every time,” Vunivalu said on Tuesday from the Wallabies camp, after announcing he’d signed on until after the World Cup.
“If he (Rennie) has that belief in me and wants to throw me in there I will back myself to play.”
Vunivalu’s code switch has been hampered by hamstring troubles which have limited him to 15 Super Rugby games over two years.
He says he has unfinished business, which is why he rejected a lucrative return to the NRL.
“There was talks about me going back to the NRL but I wanted to stay as I haven’t really done anything in union,” Vunivalu said.
“I want to prove myself and try to make my goal of going to the World Cup.”
He believes the injuries are behind him, crediting former Storm high performance director Dean Benton, who holds the same role with the Wallabies.
The pair spent a year together at Melbourne in 2016, before Benton joined Eddie Jones for a two-year stint with the the England rugby team.
Benton had previously worked with the Australian side in the build-up to the 2015 World Cup, where they made the final.
Vunivalu admitted he hit a mental low due to his injury battles, but he now felt back to his best.
“When I did my second hamstring, I really struggled,” he said.
“This year it’s all different … Dean and them have been helping me throughout and that shows, playing six or seven games straight.
“I worked with him after my second surgery for three months and it’s been awesome and I’ve never felt so good with my hamstring before.”
Vunivalu said he had leaned on Koroibete, among the world’s best wingers, since his code switch.
He said the Wallabies coaches wanted to see him improve his work-rate off the ball, something Koroibete is renowned for.
“Since my first time in (camp), he’s been the player that I go to and ask tips,” Vunivalu said.
“His work ethic on the field speaks for itself.”
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments