Women’s rugby is definitely on the rise in Queensland. Over the weekend, I was lucky to catch up with one of the Queenslands rising stars, Vuanimasie Rasolea (but you can call her Vua)! After making her mark at the Global 10s earlier this month, she is excited about the “Super W” competition starting soon! (Hint hint: March 10th). A lovely person to talk to, I enjoyed hearing about her rugby journey among other things. Look out for more interviews with the Queensland Women’s XV players soon. Like Vua said, Queensland are the team to be supporting this year!
Hey Vua, Nice to catch up. Thanks for taking time out!
What a weekend at the 10s competition! Your team did so well coming out on top. How did it feel?
It felt really good to be able to win against New South Wales, we always have a bit of a rivalry there. It wasn’t easy, because we went into overtime, but it was awesome to win in front of our families and friends. And the hard work that we’ve put in on the paddock over three weeks of training paid off, we stuck together, we really had to dig deep to win that game. We have a great bunch of girls who have each others backs, I think that was the main thing - just digging deep and going into those dark spots, when you just want to give up.
Just little chats where we say to each other “I’ve got you here.. we’ve got this” helped us through. We were happy with the 10-5 win.
Was it a good warm-up, ahead of the Super W competition starting shortly?
Yeah definitely, I think it was a good platform, as our coach Haysey [Michael Hayes] says. He describes everything that way. It was definitely a platform to see how we’d go as a Super W team, and have a taste of what each state will bring to the competition. It was definitely a great warm up, and to see where womens rugby has developed over the last few years. And hopefully, when the Super W comp comes around, we’ll have some more supporters.
Your first game is on Saturday, March 10th! I hope all my readers remember that date. The game will be at Ballymore right?
Actually, it might be here, but it could potentially be at Suncorp, before the Bulls game. So hopefully we’ll see you out there hey Tom?
Can you tell us a bit about your rugby journey. What age did you start playing?
I was brought up in a rugby family, my Dad actually played for the Fiji 15s team and moved over here. My brother [Junior Rasolea] was quite successful playing for Queensland boys and was fortunate enough to play for the Aussie Sevens team. (He built up his platform up enough to play for the Western Force and now he’s playing in Scotland.)
So growing up, I was his little brother (laughs), not little sister. So growing up, when he was doing his rugby drills, I was alongside him with my rugby boots. Just growing up in the Fijian community - we’re very rugby crazy. So growing up, rugby was very important, it’s pretty much our bread and butter. Each village has their rugby field. It was something we did after school every day, we’d play touch in the backyard and things like that.
I didn’t actually know that women played rugby until I saw the Women play Sevens in Byron Bay. I thought “you know, I might wanna play that some day.” I didn’t really think six years ago that I’d be playing rugby for Queensland. But it’s just awesome the opportunities that are coming up now for women now.
So yeah… I started when I was 16, and I’m 21 now.
What inspired you to start playing rugby? And who were some of your favourite players growing up?
That was mainly my brother, but also a player called Rebecca Tarvo, she captained the Aussie Sevens and I played alongside her in a couple of Fiji Sevens squads. She’s very much someone who I looked up to growing up. She’s such an amazing player on and off the field and definitely someone who inspired me.
But I think from day dot, it was definitely my Dad and my brother who’ve built that pathway for me to be comfortable with rugby.
I think the girls inspire me as well. Just seeing everyone, people who have kids, and other commitments, but sacrificing time to be able to come.
Anyone that I’ve played alongside has inspired me to push myself and be a better rugby player as well.
What are some of your hobbies, besides rugby?
I think just to keep me sane, I’m part of a church as well. I love just having awesome fellowship with my church members and catching up with them. Having a busy schedule, sometimes I do miss out on church stuff, so if I miss out on that, I make other time available to be able to catch up with them. I love hanging out with family, so if my cousins are available, I love chatting with them.
Thanks again for taking time out after training. Best of luck with the rest of pre-season.
No, thanks so much for your support, it means a lot, having even just one or two fans coming along. And having our main supporters like you Tom, supporting us along with the boys, it means a lot. If we don’t say thank you, trust me, it does mean a lot that you come along and acknowledge that women can play rugby as well as men. Reds is the team to be behind!
No, thanks so much for your support, it means a lot, having even just one or two fans coming along. And having our main supporters like you Tom, supporting us along with the boys, it means a lot. If we don’t say thank you, trust me, it does mean a lot that you come along and acknowledge that women can play rugby as well as men. Reds is the team to be behind!
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