'You all gonna watch me play'
I remember the last World Cup. I watched all the games on television. The game that they (Fiji) won against South Africa (Fiji's first ever RWC win, recorded in the pool stage) Fiji was happy, Fiji was proud.
I was watching with my family and my father was telling my siblings, 'One day I am going to watch you playing there'. He meant it for the boys but I was like, 'One day I'm gonna play there, and you all gonna watch me play'.
That's been my biggest motivation. My dad said that to the boys, not us girls.
So, I joined the Navy, the Fiji Navy, and and I started playing with them.
And last year I made the promise (again) to my dad that he'll watch me on the TV here.
He's always supported me and told me anything is possible. He told me to enjoy this tournament and make Fiji proud. He'll be telling all the villages, 'My daughter is playing, so you have to watch'.
People in Fiji are excited. They are fully, fully supporting us girls, and yeah, they are the backbone of this squad.
My brothers, yeah, they are they are jealous. They play volleyball now.
Being Fiji's youngest ever captain
It's really hard for me, because I just joined the national side last year. Playing the Wallaroos (Australia on 3 May 2025) was my first lineup as captain. It was really tough starting the game and leading the girls.
I was shocked and speechless (when asked to be captain) because I was expecting other old players, Olympic medalists and yeah the other old players in the team to be named. I was asking them, 'Why me?'. I had just joined the team.
My family, my mum and my dad have been fully supporting me and encouraging me, day by day. The way they raised me, I have a lot of learnings and I have been showing that to the other girls, the dos and don'ts.
Gearing up for first RWC match
England is nice, but it's cold. We're just trying to adjust. The food is really nice. Back at home we only have certain kinds of food to eat, lots of fish and chicken soup. Here we have so much to choose from.
We've been training hard, training at the best of our ability to perform and have a good match with Canada (Saturday, 17:30 at York Community Stadium). We are excited and we are up for that match.
Nothing is impossible. I feel pressure but I am positive that we can out out a good performance.
I am nervous because I just had my first big crowd, in the US (19 July). That was really big. But we won't play on the crowd, we will just play to the best of ability. We know Fiji is watching.
We will play Fijian rugby. We will play freestyle rugby. We don't play by books or structure. It helps us to be ourselves.
