Fiji Weegies - The Pen

In the week where it was announced Niko Matawalu will be joining Exeter Chiefs, it made me feel a wee bit nostalgic.

For a while there, Glasgow had a hardy band of “Fiji Weegies” and I’d like to just reminisce for a wee bit about some of these lads.

In the last few years, Glasgow have signed a number of Fijians who have had varying levels of impact but almost every one of them have put a smile on the Warrior Nations faces.

First came Niko, a very raw prospect from the Fijian Sevens who’d played 15s for the full side and Gregor Townsend wasted no time in getting the little scrum half into his team and with that, he tore the Pro12 to shreds. Matawalu had pace and guile and he was as slippery as an eel covered in oil but what stood out more than anything was Niko’s unpredictability. Defenders didn’t know what he was going to do, the fans didn’t know what he was about to do and often, those on his own side were left wondering.

He was an outstanding player in a fantastic team and he often had the ability to change a game with one quick tap penalty or with a quick interception and he was an absolutely integral in reaching the Pro12 Finals in Dublin and Belfast, playing the panto villains role at the Kingspan when Ulster fans booed him for play acting the week before in the semi-final. When he left for Bath in the summer, he left having played 74 times for the club, scoring 26 tries in the process.

Niko was joined in 2013 by Leone Nakarawa and if the Pro12 thought that Niko was unpredictable, they hadn’t seen anything like Leone! For a second row, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player like him. Power, pace, skill, offloading ability that would make a back proud, Leone had it all! Take his stats in the 2014-15 Champions Cup for example. 25 offloads. 25!!!! With Jonny Gray doing the hardest yards and the work in the boiler room, Leone was almost like another centre, running hard and providing assists all over the field. His performance in the Pro12 final in 2015 was a thing of real beauty and to cap a performance that Warriors fans will remember for decades, when the ball was spilled to the floor, Leone casually passed the ball with the instep of his foot like Zinedine Zidane to Doug Hall and made it look like it was the easiest thing in the world.

Indeed, in Nakarawa’s final game at Scotstoun, his hat-trick against Zebre was just what every Warriors fan knew we were going to miss. Watching the big man winning the Gold for the Fiji Sevens was my highlight of the Rio Olympics.

Others have come and go since these 2 players. Jerry Yanuyanutawa, the prop who played with a smile on his face no matter what was happening was a strong and sturdy scrummager and although not always a starter in the side, that infectious grin meant that he was never far from the fans hearts.

In contrast to those 3 players, came the crushing disappointment of what should have been one of the best players to grace a Warriors shirt in recent years. Taqele Naiyaravoro came from Super Rugby with a hell of a reputation and as when his signing was announced, Warriors fans rejoiced as the rest of the Pro12 panicked. But their worries were short lived. With the big man being capped by Australia before he touched down in Glasgow, concerns over whether he’d arrive and then 2 yellow cards in his first games for the team, would we ever see the best of him? Well, yes and no. Largely disappointing for the rest of the season, the Champions Cup game against Scarlets lives long in the memory as “Big T” took the game to the Welshmen, smashing through anything in a red shirt, scoring a hat-trick and being denied probably one of the greatest tries I’ve ever witnessed by 2 or 3 millimetres. I honestly believe that Naiyaravoro will one day become one of the greatest wingers in World Rugby but that Australia cap just did something to him and from that point on he was never the player we should have seen. Fleeting glimpses were all that we got to see before he headed back Down Under.

We still have 2 Fijians on our books, Junior Bulumakau and Nemia Kenatale but neither player has played much in the Warriors colours. I hope that we can see more “Fiji Weegies” in the future when Dave Rennie takes over but until that day comes, I’m happy with the memories of those Fijian Warriors.