A rugby tour to Fiji is one of the game’s great experiences yet never confuse it with a holiday in palm-fringed paradise. One Queensland Reds player famously blended rugby and the holiday vibe and it remains a classic tour tale to this day. More of that later.
The Reds playing the Fijian Drua in Suva on Saturday may seem a fairly new thing but the links to Queensland touring Fiji go back nearly 60 years. That they have been revived amid such joyous throngs of rugby-loving Fijians is truly one of the best aspects of Super Rugby Pacific.
Reds head coach Les Kiss had a great take this week.
“The Drua do have a strong home record and one of the most beautiful, amazing environments with the crowd in Fiji,” Kiss said.
“We look forward to that beautiful noise, managing it and taking on an extremely tough challenge.”
The late Bob Templeton coached a Queensland team on a landmark five-game tour of Fiji in 1965 when a young Bruce Brown made his debut at prop. Bob Honan, a wonderful centre who played rugby and league for Australia, recalled the pacy Brothers winger Doug Ryan featuring on that tour.
“Doug was the smallest winger ever seen in Fiji where his opponents all seemed the size of Jo Levula at six-foot-two,” Honan once told me.
“He must have been scared stiff because I’ve never seen him run faster or dive for the line so far out. The thing was he scored some great tries with that in-and-away of his.”
When the Reds returned in 1983 under captain Andrew Slack they were in for a rude shock.
A 15-man cyclone in white Fijian jerseys swept the Reds 48-24 in one of the most eye-popping displays of running rugby I’ve witnessed in more than 40 years covering the game. That 1983 Reds side was full of Wallabies with Tony Shaw, Brendan Moon, Chris Roche, Stan Pilecki, Slack, Andy McIntyre, Peter Grigg and so on.
They were no match when fullback Severo Koroduadua, No.8 Esala Teleni and co ran amok in front of packed stadium in Suva.
Coach Templeton was not amused and called extra training on the grassy paddock beside the airfield the following day.
“Tempo” got tour rookie Paul Johnston to help fellow halfback Peter Lavin practice his blindside chip kick. Misfires angered Templeton even more and he told them to pack it in and return in the afternoon.
Young Johnston did the calculations in his head: “Sorry, I can’t…I’ve got scuba at two.” Thankfully, Templeton’s blood pressure wasn’t measured at that moment.
Greg Martin was just a naïve 19-year-old on his first Queensland tour to Fiji in 1983. Fortunately, he made his Reds debut in the midweek match to follow in Lautoka. “I thought I’d been given a great honour by being roomed with the great Stan Pilecki on my first tour,” fullback Martin recalled.
“I found out otherwise. Tour rookies were sacrificed as Stan’s roomies because his cigarette lighter would click four or five times a night so he could light up and fill the room with smoke.” It was also the young Michael Lynagh’s maiden tour. He had no idea what kava was when he started sipping away in a team bonding and welcome function.
He was giggling like a child when the euphoria and a numb bottom lip kicked in from the legal “high”. The kava root is strained through a bowl of warm water and is the traditional drink of welcome.
Being lured into playing the same style of game as the ball-juggling of the Fijians has been the downfall of many sides. Sticking to a more disciplined game plan and tackling non-stop never go out of fashion as the best response.
In 1988, senior prop Andy McIntyre led Queensland to a 34-9 win over Fiji in Suva. “I remember it because (backrower) Brendan Nasser and I got invited to a military base for lunch with Colonel Rabuka the following day,” McIntyre said.
Rabuka had led a coup just the previous year. As a young Sitiveni Rabuka, he played in the Test pack for Fiji so the lunch talk was more about rugby than politics.
Rabuka is the current Fijian Prime Minister and was recently at Ballymore cheering on the Fijiana Drua in the Buildcorp Super Rugby Women’s grand final.
“We caught a taxi from the military base to the airport. The taxi blew a tyre but the driver was so worried about getting us there on time he drove on the metal rim for last kilometre,” McIntyre added.
If you get the chance, a rugby tour of Fiji is not to be missed. It’s great to have them back on the calendar.
By Jim Tucker
