Rugby World Cup 2015: Fiji’s Campese Ma’afu grew up a Wallabies fan but is now out to beat them

HE carries one of the most famous of Rugby World Cup names, but Fijian front-rower Campese Ma’afu is hoping to make his own mark against the Wallabies.

Brothers Campese (L) and Salesi Ma'afu after the Australia v Fiji international match at Canberra Stadium in Canberra.

HE carries one of the most famous of all Rugby World Cup names but Fijian front-rower Campese Ma’afu is hoping to make his own mark against the Wallabies at Cardiff.

The last time he played against Australia, Ma’afu packed down against his 12 months-older brother Salesi — the first time in rugby history that brothers making their Test debuts had played on opposite sides.

Five years later he plans to make history again as a member of the first Fijian team to beat Australia in a World Cup.

“Playing against the Wallabies is always a special goal of mine,” the Europe-based 31 year-old said.

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“I’ve only done it the once, but it was a huge honour. I was born and raised in Australia. I supported the Wallabies growing up. Willie Ofahengaue was my idol as a kid.

“It’s like the song says, I still call Australia home.”

And if there are ever any doubts about that, he always has his name to remind him.

“My dad played in the backs for Tonga and then he went to play in Sydney for Drummoyne,” he said.

“He was a big fan of David Campese and I was born just after Campo starred on the 1984 Grand Slam tour.

“He named me after him. I think he wanted me to be a winger, but me and Salesi both turned out to be props. My younger brother Kuki was a back. Dad must have been thinking, ‘I should have named that one Campo’.”

The Ma’afu boys all began playing rugby league for Balmain juniors, but changed to union because it was played on Saturdays.

“We come from a religious family,” Ma’afu said.

“League was played on Sundays and Dad didn’t want us playing on the Sabbath.”

League’s loss was union’s gain. All three brothers played first grade together at West Harbour. When Campese tried without luck to get a Super Rugby contract he contacted the Tongan rugby union to see if he could enhance his reputation by playing internationally.

“They sent me some dates about trials but then Joe Barakat, who had been forwards coach at the Waratahs, got in touch.

“He’d just become Fiji coach and he said to me, ‘Hey Campo, is your mother Fijian? We could use you. Do you want to play for Fiji?’

“I asked him when the trials were and he said, ‘no trials, if you want to play I’ll pick you’. I said, ‘I’m in.’ Next thing there’s a Test in Canberra against Australia and Salesi rings me and says, ‘guess what? I’m playing for the Wallabies’. I was like ‘arrr, righhhhttt’. That was a massive night for my family.

“I packed down against him for 70 minutes. It’s tough enough playing your first Test, but playing against your brother? It was a hell of an experience.”

Now, 36 Tests later and four years’ playing in Wales and England with a contract due to start in France after the World Cup, Ma’afu is the perfect example of the new breed of Fijian players. No longer plucked out of the villages and thrown in at the deep end against international rugby’s heavyweights, they are veterans of some of the best competitions in the world.

“Everything has changed dramatically in the last 10 years,” he said. “Even when I started in 2010 some of the local boys were struggling to understand what the coaches were saying because they couldn’t speak English very well. Now 21 of our 31 players are playing in France. Only two are not professionals.

“It used to be all about Fijian flair. We can’t ever lose that but at the same time we now understand the importance of the set plays, the scrums and lineouts. We know about setting a platform.”

Helping them achieve that is top South African forwards coach Frans Ludeke, whose influence was evident when Fiji played England in the tournament opener on Saturday morning. The Fijians lost the match but gave away nothing in the set pieces and actually finished on top in scrummaging stats.

Having played in that match Ma’afu is a good chance to back up against Australia and test his skills against the Wallaby pack for a second time.

“The set plays are the bread and butter of forward play,” he said.

“The scrums and lineouts have to be spot on. If we can do that against Australia we have a good chance to upset them.

“When I was a kid I hated to see Australia lose, but on this occasion I’ll make an exception.”