IIt’s never easy to get a Fijian player to talk. Rather reserved by nature and not very talkative, winger Viliame Tutuvuli, who arrived in Dax two months ago, gradually took part in an interview which retraces his career and his new life in Dacquoise.
Born in Fiji 23 years ago, Viliame Tutuvuli started at the Nadroga Academy with Rugby sevens, the first initiatory step towards rugby union in Fiji. This academy was created in 2010 from a partnership between Nadroga Rugby Club and ASM Clermont Auvergne. “Rugby sevens is the first thing we do in Fiji. In 2021, I was spotted by the Clermont club on videos, but Covid did not allow me to leave. I went through Rugby League (rugby league, Editor’s note). In 2022, I participated in the Ron Massey Cup in Australia, with the Fijian team Kaiviti Silktails. I then came back to Fiji to play XV. This is where the Clermont club offered me to sign a training agreement,” explains the player from Nadi, a town the size of Dax.
Listening
But like all players uprooted from the Pacific, arriving in Clermont-Ferrand, in the heart of the Massif Central, was not easy for the 21-year-old Fijian. “It was very difficult. What I discovered was very different from Fiji. Then, I started training with the Espoirs and getting my bearings. I had in mind a phrase that my parents often told me: “Work hard and play hard!” I never thought I would find myself in France, a country so far from Fiji. In fact, I play for my family back there! “, delivers the former Clermont resident.
After two years with the Espoirs in Auvergne, it was the opportunity for a medical joker loan that brought him to Dax. As manager Jeff Dubois explains, his profile attracted the attention of the staff. “With the two injuries to Alex Pilati and Jope Naseara, we were looking for a joker. We seized this opportunity. He has a more slender profile than these two injured ‘punchers’. He has great starting and support qualities. We were apprehensive about his ability to manage the defensive replacement, but ”Vili” listened, he quickly understood and adapted perfectly. Surely a legacy of his two years in Espoirs in Clermont. He works a lot on the pitch and even if it doesn’t show, he has a temperament and can even be aggressive. »
Amaury Dollez
Viliame Tutuvuli enjoys his life in the Landes.
“Glad to be here”
The new Dacquois winger appreciates the place where he landed and which he knew nothing about. “I had never heard of Dax. But I’m happy to be here. Knowing there were Fijians at the club was reassuring. I was integrated very well. I immediately liked the game that Jeff presented to me. It’s a style of play that Fijians like (laughs). I live with two U23 players with whom I communicate a lot. I want to do well and I’m training for that,” says the man who will start on the wing in Angoulême, this Friday evening at 7:30 p.m.
”Vili” will, for the first time in his life, go to Charente. “I don’t know this city. I was told that maybe I was going to play against Jonny May. I have often seen him on TV. It will be very special to me and very motivating if I see it face to face. But I have in mind that we have to win, so I’m going to do my best…” The Dacquois manager has other expectations regarding his player: “We saw his qualities on soft pitches. I can’t wait to see him perform on the Angoulême synthetic pitch. I hope he will be able to express his full potential for this big match.”
