AS our boys headed for the final onslaught in the London Sevens, one man who would have been particularly satisfied with his form is the rangy Laselase man Apisai Domolailai.
His two-try blitz in the Glasgow Sevens final hailed him a hero among Fijian fans after having come in as a replacement. Not bad for someone who was dropped from a couple of legs because of his form.
In fact coach Ben Ryan admitted that Domolailai was sick after the Gold Coast Sevens win and early this year he called for an improvement in his and Waisea Nacuqu’s form in the Marist Sevens.
He plays for Hideaway Hurricane locally but tours with Davetalevu overseas.
He missed Wellington and Las Vegas but he was also tied up with personal matters as he exchanged vows with his Tagaqe sweetheart in March.
His Fiji teammate ‘Ice’ Katonibau and Suva opponent in provincial matches, has even dubbed him the Steelman in the current Fiji side during a television interview.
It is no surprise that he is the soft-spoken serious guy in the team having grown and developed under the shadow of the former Steelman Aminiasi Naituyaga himself.
Naituyaga, a former Fiji XV flanker and forward of the 1997 Fiji Sevens team, that first won Fiji the Melrose Cup was from the neighbouring Nayawa Village on the bank of the Sigatoka River opposite Sigatoka town.
He played many memorable matches for Fiji and is remembered for that bulldozing crash on Springboks halfback Zoost Van der Westeisen in the Melrose Cup final.
He was also named best player in the Fiji-All Blacks test match in 1996 in New Zealand.
He later drowned and died in the Sigatoka river after a Nadroga rugby team training in 2002.
However, he was instrumental in getting the Domolailai family into playing rugby after a church elder banned them from the sport and wanted them to concentrate on schoolwork and going to Sunday school.
Apisai’s uncle Isoa Domolailai, who still plays in France, was still at school then and Naituyaga smuggled Isoa out for the weekly club games for the Lomavata club of which Laselase and Nayawa villagers belonged to.
The six foot-six Isoa was noticed by rugby selectors and he was named in the Fiji Secondary Schools team to tour overseas and his family only came to know he was playing rugby when they saw his name in the papers. His dad finally changed his mind after that and allowed Isoa to play rugby.
He later played for the Flying Fijians followed by his younger cousin/brother Jovilisi Domolailai, now playing in Italy, and now their nephew Apisai Domolailai.
Apisai is a utility player in the champion Nadroga team having played locks, loose foward and then centre.
He played centre and Fiji sevens teammate Savenaca Rawaca played second-five when Nadroga came from behind to wrest the Farebrother-Sullivan trophy back from Tailevu in 2013.
Those who know his game were not surprised of how he scored the two winning tries in Glasgow.
He has a fighting spirit using his forward experience to crash through the New Zealand tackler and his backline skills to sidestep through for his second try.
Those killer instinct combined again with his teammate Rawaca when they were down against Argentina in the London Sevens pool game.
Fresh and free from injury he joins a pack of formidable Fijian forward pack of Pio Tuwai, Katonibau, Semi Kunatani and Josaia Wini battling to win the HSBC Sevens Series .
Coach Ryan bases his selection of form and competition within the team has boosted the performance of our players as we eye the Olympic gold medal in Rio next year.
We believe the best is yet to come. Go Fiji Go!!
