Filipo Daugunu’s first Test try against the All Blacks on Sunday capped a fine debut for the former Fiji soccer junior, while underlining the growing importance of Pasifika talent to the fortunes of Australian rugby.
The winger was among eight players with Pacific islands heritage in Dave Rennie’s first starting 15 for the 16-16 draw at Wellington, where Samoa-born Hunter Paisami also enjoyed an encouraging debut at center.
One-time soccer goalkeeper Daugunu earned his place on the back of an outstanding Super Rugby AU campaign for the Queensland Reds.
Photo: AP
However, having fellow Fijian Marika Koroibete, who ignited the Wallabies’ second-half rally with an exhilarating try, in the changing room might have helped Daugunu feel more at ease in an unfamiliar environment.
“It’s got to be easier when you look around a room and you see people who have probably had very similar experiences to you,” former Wallabies vice captain Morgan Turinui said. “If you’re sitting in a room and you’re the only person with that experience, then it’s obviously harder.”
The Wallabies were not always quite so diverse.
The 22nd match day that beat France in the 1999 Rugby World Cup final featured only a single player of Pasifika origin in Tonga-born No. 8 Toutai Kefu.
Australian rugby has changed dramatically in the decades since, reflecting migration patterns and the growing strength of Pasifika communities in Australia’s east coast cities.
Turinui, whose father is Maori, was part of a wave of Polynesian players in the early 2000s who helped change perceptions of the Wallabies as a destination for a Caucasian, private-school elite.
General manager of the “Classic Wallabies” alumni group, Turinui oversees a membership base that he expects is only to become more diverse.
“The Pacific island influence has been there for a long time, but if you look at some of the numbers, just under half of all professional players are Pasifika,” he said. “At the amateur level as well, Pacific nations make up a huge number of our players and volunteers.”
While Michael Cheika, Ewen McKenzie and other past Wallabies coaches have welcomed Pasifika talent with open arms, Rennie has gone the extra mile in having his players recognize and celebrate their diversity.
The New Zealander, who has Cook Islands heritage on his mother’s side, has had players talk with each other about their roots at training camps.
Samoa-born prop Allan Alaalatoa was surprised when Rennie stood up during a team meeting in the lead-up to Wellington and announced that one of the “Tongan boys” had brought a song.
Hooker Folau Faingaa and prop Taniela Tupou led the Wallabies in a chorus of a traditional Tongan song.
“When you’re seeing the non-Pacific boys get stuck into the song — really enjoying [it] — and that genuine feeling of wanting to connect, that’s the best thing about it,” Alaalatoa said on Wednesday.
The Fijian players have also led a singalong and the Samoans’ turn is coming up.
“That’s been one of the great changes this year that I’ve felt,” Alaalatoa added. “The more we can connect off the field, the better it will be for us on the field.”
Sunday’s clash against New Zealand, the second in the annual Bledisloe Cup series contested by the trans-Tasman nations, is to be a huge test of the Wallabies’ unity at Eden Park, a venue where they are winless since 1986.
While cautious about declaring the Wallabies the “real deal,” Turinui was encouraged by their performance in Wellington and good signals coming out of the playing group.
“I think even we’ve seen with this newest Wallabies squad some more overt recognition of the different paths guys have walked,” he said. “We’re only one week in, but everything we’re seeing is that they’ve come together well.”
Barcelona star Lamine Yamal would be motivated by criticism ahead of the Clasico, Barcelona assistant coach Marcus Sorg said yesterday. Teenage winger Yamal has been in the spotlight in the Spanish capital after joking that Real Madrid “steal” and “complain” during an appearance on a social media stream. Champions Barca face Real Madrid today in La Liga at the Santiago Bernabeu, looking for a fifth consecutive win over their rivals. “Lamine is a top player and I think [the criticism] will be motivating for him,” Sorg told a news conference. “I hope we all see him tomorrow [give] the best performance.” The 18-year-old Spain
‘A HISTORIC moment’: ‘I think we all need to take a step back and appreciate Leo Messi is playing in Major League Soccer,’ league commissioner Don Garber said Lionel Messi raised the Golden Boot. He then got Inter Miami started with his head. The Argentine opened the scoring with a diving header in the first half, then capped the scoring in the 96th minute as Inter Miami opened the MLS playoffs with a 3-1 win over Nashville SC in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference best-of-three first-round series on Friday night. Messi and Ian Fray had the assists on Tadeo Allende’s second-half tally for Inter Miami, who now get two chances to advance out of the first round for the first time in Messi’s two-and-a-half-year tenure with the team. Game
‘COMPLETE GAME’: ‘To be honest, I’m not sure about the history, but I’m very happy about what I did today,’ Yamamoto said through a translator after the game Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched a World Series game from another era. Sandy Koufax had October outings like this, and so did Orel Hershiser, but those types of performances have vanished in modern baseball. Until this 178cm starter from Japan delivered like the aces of old. Yamamoto threw a four-hitter for his second consecutive complete game, the first in the World Series since 2015, and the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-1 on Saturday night to tie their best-of-seven matchup at one game apiece. “It’s kind of the throwback,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “When he starts a game, he
Japan’s narrow defeat by Australia showed they can compete with the best teams in the world, coach Eddie Jones said after his side fell to a 19-15 loss yesterday. Australia coach Joe Schmidt led the Wallabies for the first time against Eddie Jones, his predecessor and now Japan coach. During Jones’ second tenure as Australia coach, the Wallabies lost seven of nine tests and were eliminated in group play at the 2023 World Cup. “What I’m super pleased about is that now we [Japan] are a team that stays in the fight,” Jones told reporters. “We kept going, we could have won
RSS