Who is Senirusi Seruvakula: Ten things you should know about the Fiji coach

Former flanker Senirusi Seruvakula has experience playing around the world and took charge of the Fiji women’s team ahead of the 2022 Rugby World Cup – the first time the country had qualified for the tournament.

Ten things you should know about Senirusi Seruvakula

1. Senirusi Seruvakula was born on 12 November 1969 in Suva.

2. A former back-row, he won one cap for Fiji – against Samoa in 2002.

3. During his club playing career, he spent seven seasons at Brothers in Brisbane, another four with Hong Kong’s Tigers and had a spell playing for Châteauneuf-du-Pape in France’s Fédérale One.

4. In Fiji, he played for the Naitasiri province.

5. After retiring in 2005, he coached Naitasiri U20 before moving up to be assistant coach of the seniors. He then headed to Vatukoula to take up a head coach position when Inoke Male took charge of Fiji.

6. He went on to coach Fiji Warriors before guiding the Fijian Drua men in Australia’s NRC from 2017 to 2019.

In 2018, Fijian Drua clinched the NRC title by beating Queensland Country in the final.

7. He also assisted John McKee when Fiji beat the Barbarians 33-31 at Twickenham in 2019.

8. The following year he became head coach of the Fiji women’s team and in 2022 he guided the national team to the Oceania Championship title.

Fiji beat Papua New Guinea 152-0 – a record winning margin in Test rugby – and comfortably saw off Tonga before beating Samoa 31-24 in the last match to take the title.

9. As well as taking charge of the Test team, he has also coached Fijiana Drua in Australia’s Super W competition. In 2022, they beat defending champions NSW Waratahs to triumph in the final.

10. Seruvakula is keen for his teams to play what they see and express themselves rather than be bogged down in structure, so he sets out to instil confidence in his charges.

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