A Conversation with Suliasi Vunivalu

This week I was given the opportunity to interview Suli Vunivalu and ask the code-crosser himself about his experience so far at the Reds. I’d been keen to chat with him down at Ballymore for some time. As it worked out, I finally got to sit and talk with him, up at the Sunshine Coast, while training with the Wallabies! Obviously, the Wallabies are preparing to take on England for what’s set to be a spectacular three game series.

I’m glad that Suli could be in the mix for the upcoming series. If you ask me, I agree with Dave Rennie that he has awesome potential to do great things with the Wallabies. Although today, I have to admit, I was more interested in his rugby journey and how he’s been finding life based at Ballymore :-D. I hope you enjoy reading our conversation!

Hey Suli, thank you so much for taking the time to chat today.

You’re welcome, Tommy.

This is Reds Rugby Rules, so I’d like to ask you all about your experience with the Reds.

But first of all, how has the week gone so far, with the Wallabies up here at the Sunshine Coast?

Yeah the weeks been good. We had a pretty tough couple of sessions last week and this week. I think our last tough session is on Saturday, so everyone’s looking forward to a lighter week next week.

I’m glad you’re here and I hope you have an awesome time training with the team.

Thank you Tom.

I’d like to rewind back to 2019. What was it that inspired you to make the move to Queensland, and also to rugby union?

Obviously, I’m from rugby background. I started playing league in 2014 when I went over to the [Melbourne] Storm. Me and Nelson at the Storm, we both have a rugby background and we’d always chat and say when we’ve achieved our goals in Rugby League, we’d try to jump back into Rugby Union. So, lucky enough, we won two premierships, played under Craig Ballamy, played with the big three, that was our goals… we played with Billy Slater, Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk. So that’s a move that I’ve completed there and there’s another goal to complete, wearing the yellow jersey.

What do you love most about being based at Ballymore?

I like the setting and I’m looking forward to the new building next year. It’s a good ground. We haven’t really trained much this year at the main ground. Everything is closer together, yeah it’s a good set up there. 

Suli with fellow Reds Tate McDermitt who has been in his element this week

Our 2022 season had some up’s and downs. What were some highlights of this years Super Rugby season?

Yeah. We started pretty well this season, especially with the Australian teams. But we just didn’t find our second gear when we came across the Kiwi teams. We had a couple of good games, but we just didn’t find the first gear that we had in the Aussie Super comp. I’m looking forward to next year and seeing what the new squad can bring and hopefully we can finish off the way we started.

I’m looking forward to 2023 already! I’ll be there to support.

The Crusaders put up a fight in the quarter-final. Our team fought hard though and I was proud of everybody.

What were some things you learnt from the teams trip to Christchurch?

Yeah. We knew it was going to be a really tough game against the Crusaders in their home town. Thorny brought in the Queensland mentality, that Queensland spirit. We had a couple of league boys send us a couple of videos and our theme that week was based on the State of Origin. So we watched a couple of clips of Queenslanders running in, how they play aggressive and that’s how we played the first 60 minutes. But if we played that in the last 20 minutes, we would have had them. 

I love hearing about peoples rugby journeys. What inspired you to first start playing? Also, how old were you when you started playing rugby?

I actually was a soccer player growing up. I went to an Indian school in Fiji. After school we’d usually play “Fiji touch”. I think at the age of 5, I started to watch my dad play rugby and at the age of 13, I told my dad I want to go to rugby school. Lucky enough I got a scholarship to go to New Zealand and everything went up from there on. My dad was actually a massive brumbies supporter back then. That was the Latham and Mortlock era.

What do you love to do that has nothing to do with rugby?

Um, I love a sleep (laughs), especially after a big day like today. Also, I love watching movies… going to the cinema… There’s a few new movies coming out soon. I think Black Adam, with the Rock is coming out in a couple of weeks, so I’m looking forward to watching that.

Thanks heaps for taking time out of a busy week to chat.

All good! Thanks very much Tommy.

I, for one, am very glad that you’re playing rugby union. I think it’s a good fit for you. Let’s go Wallabies! But also, let’s go Reds, in 2023. 😁😁😁

That’s it! Thank you so much for coming Tommy!

It was great seeing some of the other players, including Harry Wilson, James Slipper
(my first ever Reds Rugby Rules interviewee!) and fellow Wallaby Scott Sio.

Don't forget the first Wallabies test match against the Brits kicks off on Saturday July 2nd (in Perth). Full details about the series can be found here. Thanks to the Wallabies for letting me visit!