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Daniel Schofield 23 December 2019 10:00pm GMT Growing up in the remote Fijian village of Naveyago, Semi Kunatani had a choice to make when he was still a young man: continue in his father’s
footsteps as a farmer or try his hand at rugby. Kunatani chanced his arm at the latter. Seven years and an Olympic gold medal later, Kunatani is preparing for Harlequins’ Big Game against
Leicester Tigers at Twickenham. There cannot be many greater contrasts between the pomp and splendour of English rugby’s national stadium and the surroundings in which Kunatani honed his
skills. Sometimes he would ride 40 minutes on horseback to play for a local club side. The ball would tend to be constructed from a plastic bottle or stick with a shirt wrapped around it.
Pitches would be similarly improvised, but the rules were fairly static. “We would play one-touch rugby,” Kunatani said. “That’s how we play all over Fiji. One touch, then turnover. That’s
why we flick the ball in, you just throw it in anyhow, it helps the skills.” Growing up, he had posters of current team-mate Niki Goneva on his bedroom wall. Yet all his rugby ambitions were
put on hold when his mother died while he was still a teenager. “I had to give up on my school dreams and focus on farming, so my other siblings could get a better life,” Kunatani, 29,
said. “I would wake up in the morning, straight to the farm. Now it’s changed, most of the family have tractors. But before we had bullocks, and we had to go plough the land. Before the sun
came up, we would come back to the village and have breakfast and bring some stuff to the farm. Some cassava or veggies for lunch. Straight away I’d put the stuff at home with my Dad and
pick up my spear and go fishing.” The spear-fishing in waist-deep water also helped with his reflexes. “It’s hard, you had to be skilful, chasing around all the fish because they are quick,”
Kunatani said. “You have to be smart, they keep on moving.” Kunatani might still be in that river had he not gone to watch his cousins play in a trial match in the city of Nadi. The coach
asked for more volunteers from the stands, Kunatani obliged and by the time he returned to his village, he had a missed call from his cousin saying he had made the cut. “That night I had a
deep conversation with my dad because he depends on me to look after the farm. He asked me do you really want to do this? I knew I had talent to play rugby. Then he said you have to think
twice because you are the only one who works on the farm so if you go who is going to look after the farm?” They came to a compromise where Kunatani would give rugby a try for three months.
Every week, he would send his match fee of 50 Fijian dollars (about £17) on the bus back to his old man. Then he was spotted by Fiji sevens coach Ben Ryan and his world would truly change.
Now he was not just supporting his father, who passed away in 2017, but his five siblings and much of the village as well. “My siblings were able to finish their school. As soon as I came
into the Fiji team, they started to rely on me. Before my father passed away he reminded me of everything he said. You work so hard for your siblings so please look after them. Then the
people in your village are like your extended family. If you have a wedding, they would ask for money. It is the same for all Island players, we have these extended families. So if you have
a big occasion they will ask you for something. That’s normal.” That support extends to paying for a team from Naveyago to compete in a sevens competition. Kunatani even sourced some spare
Harlequins kit for them to play in. “The boys are doing different things, opposite to what I did,” Kunatani said. “I wanted them to focus on rugby instead of smoking or drinking kava. I
tried to think what can I do to make them feel more responsible in the village.” Rugby Nerd REFERRAL (article) Even in a remarkable Fijian sevens side containing Bristol bound sensation Semi
Radradra and human highlight reel Leone Nakarawa, Ryan has described Kunatani as “almost untouchable in a team of untouchables.” His sensational performances earned him a contract with
French giants Toulouse as well as helping Fiji to win a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Transferring the skills that made him a superstar in the shortened form of the game has been
challenging. He lasted three seasons in Toulouse’s stacked back row without making much of an impression before joining Harlequins last summer. “In sevens you can do anything because there
is a lot more space,” Kunatani said. “In XVs there are more people on the field so it is a different type of decision making. In sevens, everything is very quick. In XVs, it goes fast, slow,
fast, slow. The changes were hard when I started when I was in France. But now it is building up, slowly.” As Paul Gustard, the Harlequins head of rugby, attests the X-factor remains in
place. “He can do different things to people, beat them easily and he has a big hit in him time to time,” Gustard said. “That’s what we need, someone who can break the line because
fundamentally everyone attacks the same, everyone defends the same, you need people that bring it to life. He can definitely do that.” As tough as the challenge is of adjusting to a new
format, adapting to a completely alien culture is even greater. Harlequins signing Tevita ‘Tex’ Cavubati and Goneva has considerably eased Kunatani’s transition. “Last year I did not talk
too much,” he said. “There was no one to talk to in my own language. I was happy when Harlequins signed Niki and Tex. It really helped me.” They will be spending Christmas Day together
ensuring a small part of south-west London will have a distinctly Pacific flavour.