THEY say you follow your dreams and one day it will come to reality.
Ratu Naibuka Vaude Malu said he would never give up in trying to live his passion with the oval ball, with age catching up, he aims to achieve what he wanted — a rugby contract overseas.
His journey with rugby started at a very young age from his primary school days and he played in the Coke Zero Deans competition for Lomawai Secondary School from 2007 to 2009.
He will be part of the Natabugana team at the Fiji Bitter Marist 7s this weekend.
The Vatukarasa hitman said he felt in love with the oval ball game and played in both the codes — rugby league and union.
“I am still in the race of reaching my goal and it was a dream from a young age to become a household name in the rugby field after a fallout in my education career,” he said.
“It’s a passion and I love playing rugby even though I am still after my dream to become a national representative either in rugby league or rugby union.”
Naibuka played for the Navosa under-20 and the senior team from 2009 to 2012.
He was part of the Fiji Bati in 2016 and joined the Residents team from 2012-2014.
The 26-year-old inside centre said he had sacrificed a lot of his time training and his new life at Dagai Village on Kadavu gave him a new lease of life that he could achieve his dream.
“I call the place home because of the villagers hospitality and forming a team to come to this weekend’s Fiji Bitter Marist Sevens tournament will help me further showcase my talent to the hierarchy of Fiji Rugby Union and its selectors,” he said.
He has played for the Police and was part of the Uro Kadavu winning team at the Campbell Town 7s tournament in Sydney in 2017.
He played rugby in Melbourne last year before returning to Fiji.
“I’m glad to be part of this team as this will be the first time the team will participate in the tournament but I have been here on numerous occasions.”
