‘They are proud of me’: Naisarani’s entire Fiji village cheered his Wallaby debut
When Isi Naisarani ran out in front of 51,206 raucous South African fans on his Wallaby debut, he had 2000 people behind him 14,000km away.
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The entire population of Isi Naisarani’s village in Fiji would have fitted into a small tier of one stand at Ellis Park where Australia’s new No.8 project made his promising debut.
The 110kg forward felt their energy too in Johannesburg because he knew family, friends and barefoot kids would all be watching his first strides at 3am Fiji time.
There are less than 2000 people in Naqali, near Suva, compared to the 51,206 raucous South African fans who cheered the scalping of the Wallabies 35-17.
“It’s unreal to make my Test debut. I’ve been waiting for so long to get this opportunity,” said Naisarani, who finally met his three-year residency requirement.
“It’s a blessing for me and I want to thank my family for their support and prayers.
“I’ve been getting heaps of messages, texts from back home. All my family, friends, my village, stayed up to watch (and), definitely, they are proud of me.
“When I came to Australia (in 2014) my dream was always to play for the Wallabies.”
Naisarani’s numbers - eight runs for 37m - don’t tell the full story because his leg drive carted him forward when two big defenders were draped on him and he also roped in a high pass that a predecessor like Lopeti Timani would have spilt.
He won lineouts cleanly and the only real blemish was the botched 5m scrum under the posts just before halftime when he knocked on at the back.
“It was a miscommunication between me and (halfback) Nic White ... he say for me to pass the ball from the scrum, I just want to carry there,” Naisarani said.
“I just knocked on.”
At No.8, coach Michael Cheika has backed brilliant players with no lineout skills like David Pocock and baulked on experiments with Leroy Houston, Richard Hardwick and Caleb Timu.
No.8s with poor hands like Timani have been found wanting, a gem like Sean McMahon opted out of Australian rugby and Pete Samu has provided some nice glimpses.
Enter Naisarani.
“I thought Naisarani had an excellent debut ... he was involved in the game, he didn’t have a very high error count and he was present all the time. He made some crucial (lineout) catches and he defended with physicality,” Cheika said.
Naisarani, 25, now wants more with a Test against Argentina beckoning on Saturday at Suncorp Stadium.
“The Jaguares made the Super Rugby final this year so we know what the Argentinian players are capable of,” Naisarani said.
“They have many ball-carriers in their team and they like unstructured play like we do.
“We missed some opportunities against South African but we’ll come back strongly in Brisbane.”
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