An Interview with Samu Kerevi

Here’s the second of two interviews for the week! (This is to make up for missing out last week. If you haven’t already, make sure you check out my great interview with winger Chris Kuridrani as well!)

With captain James Slipper injured (our thoughts are with you James!) and vice-captain Stephen being rested this week, Samu is taking up the captaincy for tonights match against the Kings. Congratulations Samu! We all believe in you!

Please enjoy our chat from earlier this week.

Hi Samu, it’s great to talk to you again. I was just going to ask you a few questions.

Sweet. Thanks for having me Tommy.

How was it debuting as a Wallaby in 2016?

Obviously, it was an emotional day for me, being able to play for the Wallabies and get to that level. It was an unbelievable experience. We lost on the bell, and that was hard to take, but a massive thanks to my team mates for even getting me into that space, but it was a really grateful moment for me and my family.

We know you play center. What does that position involve?

Center… We take the midfield, for the whole game. It involves a lot of bashing, a lot of running lines and big hits that we take, but both the defence and the attack we control (especially around the midfield) and the edges.

So for me that involves linking up with my wingers and fullbacks to make sure we get good line to go and attack and get the wide channels to score some good tries - if we get the ball out there.

What is your senior team?

I started with South, back when I was in juniors, and different clubs in between, but for now South Magpies is my senior team. They’ve been having a tough season, just like us, and it was good to see get the win on the weekend. It’s a family thing. My brothers played for South when I was growing up. I played most of my juniors for Sunnybank, and GPS Ashgrove, but South is my Senior team now.

What was your favourite player growing up?

For me as a player growing up, over the ditch, Tana Umanga and Ma’a Nonu were people I looked up to. They played for the All Blacks and the Hurricanes, and they were a really great center pairing. I took a lot of, I guess, game knowledge of them. I watched them and saw the way they ran the ball. Ma’a, obviously being a pretty big boy, ran the ball pretty hard. So that was something that I tried to emulate. I played Ma’a back in 2014. That was a massive day for me, playing against someone that I looked up to over the years. It was a good day.

How many seasons have you played with the Reds?

I started back in 2014, so that’s three years. It’s been a long couple of years, I’m enjoying my time here at the Reds. It’s somewhere I grew up, and so I’ve always wanted to play for Queensland. Representing that every weekend is a massive honour for me.

What is the biggest highlight in your life so far?

For me, it was probably back in 2012. I went back home and tried out for the under 20s Fiji team. I didn’t make any rep teams here when I was growing up, so I went back to Fiji with my brother and we both made the team. We played with them over in South Africa. So that was one of my highlights, playing with family, for a country that brought me up. And beside that, obviously making my debut for the Wallabies, rugby wise that was pretty awesome.

But for me, the highlight for my life would be just my family. Being able to wake up and seeing them still doing what they do, going to work on simple days... It’s a massive blessing from God that we’re still breathing on the earth, so for me a highlight would be my family.

Coming from Fiji to play for the Reds, what is some advice for some aspiring players, both boys and girls?

I guess, coming from Fiji, there was a couple of struggles you know, even staying in the country with Visas and stuff like that. I think you’ve got to be persistent. If you know what you want, and what your dream is, if you’re persistent with it, you’ll get there. I feel like you’ve got to put in the time and the attention to detail in every aspect of your life is important. Especially in rugby, putting in the time on and off the field, to become a better person as well, I feel like it will help you on the field.

Be persistent and go hard at whatever you love.

Could you tell us something about yourself that not may people may know?


(Laughs) Rugby wise, not a lot of people would know that all the way through school I was the second row pairing with Curtis Browning, who played second row, even leading up to first fifteen. I was the second row for first fifteen, until I got dropped. And then our SNC coach, who was the coach for the seconds, and he shifted me to center and I never looked back. I’m pretty glad I’m out of the second row, working with the forwards. I just love being out wide with the backs. So that’s something that not a lot of people won’t know.

Thanks Samu for the chat! I hope we can talk again soon.

Thanks for having me Tommy. It was awesome. Thank you again for having me.