{"id":105254,"date":"2025-08-29T22:01:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T22:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/105254\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T22:01:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T22:01:07","slug":"the-australian-plotting-to-take-down-the-wallaroos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/105254\/","title":{"rendered":"The Australian plotting to take down the Wallaroos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aussie-born, USA coach Sione Fukofuka admits there\u2019s divided loyalties even in his own household as he tries to guide the Eagles to victory against the Wallaroos in York.<\/p>\n

Fukofuka took over the role in 2024, having served as the Australian assistant coach under then-coach Jay Tregonning at the last World Cup in 2022.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2025 Rugby World Cup live and on-demand via Stan Sport.<\/a><\/p>\n

It put him on a collision course with his former side when the draw was revealed last October.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was almost like fate, wasn’t it?\u201d he told Rugby.com.au from their base in York.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as we lost to Ireland in WXV1, we dropped a world ranking point,\u00a0which put us in that framework of being in Pool A.\u00a0When Australia was named second in the pool, I was like,\u00a0\u2018Well, the chances are pretty high here\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it was one of those things that almost felt like it was meant to be them or us.\u201d<\/p>\n

But his connection to the Wallaroos runs deeper than his time as coach.<\/p>\n

The former Sunnybank coach has been integral to the growth of Women\u2019s Rugby in Queensland, coaching a host of stars, most notably Charlotte Caslick.<\/p>\n

Caslick credits Fukofuka for introducing her to the sport at Brisbane State High, which helped her become the superstar she is today.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Sione] Fukofuka helped me a lot in my transition to rugby because he used to let me train with the firsts and was always encouraging me,\u201d said Caslick in an interview in 2016.<\/a><\/p>\n

On top of that, he also coached the likes of Lori Cramer and Georgina Friedrichs in the Queensland Sevens system before their move to the 15s.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, as somebody who has coached them, it’s really uplifting seeing their rise,\u201d he reflected.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m really proud of the work that they’ve put in and the recognition that they’re getting.\u00a0As you know, a lot of those players toiled around in the amateur era where they had to sacrifice and give up a lot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo see them grow, get opportunities and now be on the world stage, I’m just so happy for all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSione has known a lot of us since we were kids and growing up. He’s coached a lot of us, most of us, to be honest,\u201d Cramer added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s the beauty of rugby. You can try and shut down a few people that you think you know what they’re going to do, but that just opens it up for someone else. As a full squad, we’ve got a really polished kind of system going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\"SioneSione Fukofuka at WXV1 2023 with the Wallaroos as an assistant coach. Photo: Brendan Hertel\/RA Media<\/p>\n

Fukofuka got a taste of what to expect during the Pacific Four, admitting it was a weird feeling to listen to the national anthem on the other side of the field.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a matter of convincing his family to adopt their new team, with his oldest\u2019s favourite player is Reds legend and former Wallaroos Ivania Wong.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy eldest sits there and is still very torn. Some of his favourite players are playing in the Wallaroos.\u00a0He grew up with them around him,” he admits.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s trying to have one [jersey] on top, one below. .\u00a0We’re still debating as to which shirt goes on top.\u201d<\/p>\n

But regardless of what happens, the coach was proud to see the growth of the Australians even from afar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Lori mentioned in one of her interviews, two years ago is still a long time ago.\u00a0So there’s been a lot of growth within that group since then.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s exciting to see them continue to develop and become those world-class players that they are now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s nothing but respect and admiration for what they’ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aussie-born, USA coach Sione Fukofuka admits there\u2019s divided loyalties even in his own household as he tries to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85,72620,19259],"class_list":{"0":"post-105254","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-usa-eagles","13":"tag-wallaroos"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}