FORMER St Joseph’s Secondary School sprinter Louisa Tubailagi is on the verge of creating history by being the first Fijian woman to represent the New Zealand Black Ferns 7s side.
The Kadavu lass, who is currently part of the Black Ferns development side, arrived in the country from New Zealand earlier this month to celebrate her 21st birthday.
“It’s so good to be back home, just to be able to reunite with my family and celebrate my birthday here with them is amazing,” she said.
Born and raised in Fiji, Tubailagi took up rugby when she was 17 years old after moving to New Zealand in 2017.
“I started playing rugby when I was 17 years old, just after I moved to New Zealand.”
Tubailagi, who also represented Fiji at the Melanesian Games in 2018, said making the switch from athletics to rugby was a personal choice.
“In the place we moved to, athletics wasn’t quite big, and the nearest track was about 45 minutes from home.”
She said ever since taking up the sport, she dreamt of being part of the Black Ferns 7s side.
“It was a dream for me because I knew there hadn’t been any Fijian woman to do it.
“I played 7s for a while before we moved to Auckland, where I started playing 15s for some time.”
Tubailagi finally forced her way into the Black Ferns development side late last year and has been working tirelessly towards her goal of making the senior team.
“I was able to make the development team late last year, and now I have just recovered from an ACL injury which I had earlier this year.”
She will be heading to Japan where she will represent the Yokahama 7s club for four to six months.
“This will be my fi rst time playing on the fi eld again after my injury, so I’m excited for it.
“Once I’m done with Yokohama, I will be heading straight back to New Zealand to the development team where I will continue working towards my dream.”