{"id":58600,"date":"2025-08-11T06:47:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T06:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/58600\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T06:47:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T06:47:09","slug":"ex-all-black-recalled-in-fiji-squad-for-pacific-nations-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/58600\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-All Black recalled in Fiji squad for Pacific Nations Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Three potential debutants have been named in the Flying Fijians squad ahead of this year\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/pacific-nations-cup\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pacific Nations Cup<\/a> scheduled later this month while former All Black <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/seta-tamanivalu\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Seta Tamanivalu<\/a> has earnt a recall.<\/p>\n<p>Flanker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/isoa-tuwai\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Isoa Tuwai<\/a>, winger Taneila Rakuro, and outside back <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/tuidraki-samusamuvodre\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tuidraki Samusamuvodre<\/a> have been called up by head coach Mick Byrne.<\/p>\n<p>All three are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/fijian-drua\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fijian Drua<\/a> reps, with Rakuro currently with Taranaki in the NPC as injury cover for Kini Naholo.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/spacer-new.png\" alt=\"Video Spacer\" width=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<p>All Black legend Carlos Spencer on Rugby Champs for the women\u2019s game <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/spacer-new.png\" alt=\"Video Spacer\" width=\"100%\"\/>All Black legend Carlos Spencer on Rugby Champs for the women\u2019s game <\/p>\n<p>Samusamuvodre made his professional debut in the MLR with the New <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/england\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">England<\/a> Free Jacks before linking back up with the Drua where he has played for the last four seasons. Tuwai has eight Super caps with the Drua.<\/p>\n<p>Headlining the Fijians squad for their Pacific Nations Cup campaign are the experienced stars, the likes of No.8 Bill Mata, wing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/semi-radradra\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Semi Radradra<\/a> and ex-All Black <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/seta-tamanivalu\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Seta Tamanivalu<\/a>, who will make his first appearance since 2022.<\/p>\n<p>The ex-All Black has been playing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/japan\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Japan<\/a> for Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo, where he has won back-to-back League One titles.<\/p>\n<p>However, the Flying Fijians will be without some of their notable France-based players like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/jiuta-wainiqolo\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jiuta Wainiqolo<\/a>, set to join Lyon, who starred during the July period. Debutant <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/salesi-rayasi\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Salesi Rayasi<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/josua-tuisova\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Josua Tuisova<\/a> are also understandably absent with pre-season commitments.<\/p>\n<p>The 33-man squad will open their Pacific Nations Cup campaign against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/tonga\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tonga<\/a> in Suva on August 30 in round two, before travelling to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/samoa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Samoa<\/a> on September 6.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s finals series will be held in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/usa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">USA<\/a> across Denver, Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah with all six teams travelling to the States.<\/p>\n<p>Flying Fijians squad for PNC 2025<\/p>\n<p>Forwards<br \/>Eroni Mawi<br \/>Haereti Hetet<br \/>Mesake Doge<br \/>Samu Tawake<br \/>Meli Tawake<br \/>Tevita Ikanivere<br \/>Kavaia Tagivetaua<br \/>Zuriel Togiatama<br \/>Isoa Nasilasila<br \/>Temo Mayanavanua<br \/>Mesake Vocevoce<br \/>Etonia Waqa<br \/>Elia Canakaivata<br \/>Motikiai Murray<br \/>Isoa Tuwai*<br \/>Bill Mata<br \/>Kitione Salawa<\/p>\n<p>Backs<br \/>Philip Baselala<br \/>Simione Kuruvoli<br \/>Sam Wye<br \/>Kemu Valetini<br \/>Caleb Muntz<br \/>Kalaveti Ravouvou<br \/>Inia Tabuavou<br \/>Tuidraki Samusamuvodre*<br \/>Ponipate Loganimasi<br \/>Taniela Rakuro<br \/>Semi Radradra<br \/>Isaiah Armstrong Ravula<br \/>Seta Tamanivalu<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three potential debutants have been named in the Flying Fijians squad ahead of this year\u2019s Pacific Nations Cup&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-58600","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}