Mark Nawaqanitawase.
Four years after a prophetic pledge to his grandmother, one-time schoolboys rugby reject Mark Nawaqanitawase will make a dream World Cup debut for the Wallabies.
Coach Eddie Jones has opted for Nawaqanitawase and fellow excitement machine Marika Koroibete as his wingers for Australia’s tournament opener against Georgia in Paris on Sunday morning (AEST).
While his selection is no surprise after a series of eye-catching performances for Jones and his predecessor Dave Rennie since debuting on last year’s spring tour of Europe, Nawaqanitawase has recalled how he was almost lost to rugby.
Overlooked for the first XV in his final year of high school in Sydney, Nawaqanitawase had planned to venture to New Zealand in 2019 to “see what that could lead to”.
The classy back performed so well in the trial he was not only recruited by the Waratahs but also made the under-20s Junior World Cup team in 2019.
The rest, as they say, is history.
It was also four years ago, when Nawaqanitawase was only 18 and watching the Wallabies at the last World Cup in Japan, that he told his ‘nonna’ Lorraine he would be representing Australia at the 2023 global showpiece in France.
Stream the best of Fiji on VITI+. Anytime. Anywhere.
