Nicknamed the ‘Superboot’, former Flying Fijians fullback Severo Koroduadua’s prowess in the rugby arena could be attributed to his father being a rugby player and his mother a netball player herself.
He told this newspaper that when asked if being dubbed the moniker was the result of what he had worked on overtime or if it came naturally to him.
Koroduadua was part of the Flying Fijians team for the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
They broke through a tough Pool 3 grouping filled with teams such as Argentina, Italy and New Zealand to reach the quarter-final where they were beaten 31-16 by France.
Reaching that far in for a team from a small island nation was a tremendous feat, considering the preparation process they underwent for it.
“Training then was normal, not like nowadays, there’s equipment, food, we’ve got all the experts in advising the coaches (but) over there we had only three officials: the coach, the manager and the doctor – that is all,” he mentioned.
He recalled their qualification into the quarter-final against France, stating a points difference in the pool gave way to a ticket into the elimination stages.
“This was our first quarter-final in the first Rugby World Cup and we were happy that we managed to qualify for the quarter-finals by points difference from our first pool game against Argentina,” Koroduadua recalled.
In that match, seen by 13,000 people at Rugby Park in Hamilton, they beat the Pumas 28-9 in their first pool match with tries by Peceli Gale, Salacieli Naivilawasa, Kavekini Nalaga and Ilaitia Savai.
Two conversions were made by Koroduadua and one by Elia Rokowailoa.
In their second pool match, they were thrashed 13-74 by the All Blacks, Jioji Cama being the sole try-scorer as Koroduadua successfully placed three penalties.
The final pool match against Italy, they lost 15-18 as Naivilawasa scored the only try, Koroduadua with the kick and two penalties and a drop goal by Manasa Qoro.
They were beaten by France 31-16 in the quarter-final, with Koroduadua nearly handing in a try had it not been for the ball slipping away past the 22m line.
Following the 1987 tournament, Fiji would then clinch the elusive RWC quarter-final ticket 20 years later in Nantes, France where they beat Wales 38-34 in their final pool game, a historic upset that saw the Welsh exit the World Cup that year.
Meanwhile, as the Flying Fijians prepare to face the Wallabies this week, he wished them all the best and urged them to make a difference.
The first Test for the team kicks off at 3.30pm this Sunday at the McDonald Jones Stadium, in Newcastle, Australia.
