Waisale Serevi

Waisale Tikoisolomoni Serevi (born 20 May 1968) is a Fijian former rugby union football player and coach, and is a member of the World Rugby Hall of Fame.

Serevi is renowned for his achievements in rugby sevens, while also enjoying a long career in fifteen-a-side rugby at both club and national team levels.

Nicknamed "The Wizard" by commentators, he is widely considered to be the greatest rugby sevens player in the history of the game.

The third of five children, Serevi was born in Suva, on the island of Viti Levu, on 20 May 1968.

He was raised by staunch Christian parents who were both heavily involved in the Church.

Serevi's inspiration to play rugby stemmed from his childhood, when Fiji defeated the British Lions in 1977.

He missed watching the match, but decided to take up rugby after seeing how happy the victory made the people of Fiji.

His family moved twice when he was a child, the second time settling in Suva where Serevi started secondary school.

There he attended Lelean Memorial School.

His schooling was unsuccessful however, and he failed his Fiji Junior Certificate Examination (tenth year) in 1984.

Serevi blamed his love for rugby, saying he "played too much and didn't spend enough time studying."

After failing his examinations, Serevi quit school and continued to play for his local club Rewa.

Although he trained with the team, he was omitted from playing as the coach, Jo Rauto, thought he was too small and would get hurt.

He was eventually selected to play for the senior provincial side when he was 17.

Several months later he was asked to join the Nabua Rugby Club – under the guidance of coach Ratu Kitione Tuibua – by his uncle Vesito Rauluni.

Serevi's Nabua team were highly successful in Fiji's sevens tournaments.

In 1987 Serevi was selected for the Fiji B team, and the following year he was selected for Fiji, playing against Wellington in New Zealand.

In the 15-man game, he played for Fiji 39 times between 1989 and 2003, and scored 376 points.

His representative sevens career started in 1989 when he played for Fiji at the Hong Kong tournament.

This included representing Fiji in the 1991, 1999, and 2003 Rugby World Cups.

He also played professionally for the Mitsubishi, Leicester, Stade Montois, Stade Bordelais and Staines rugby teams.

Serevi also played in the 1993, 1997, 2001, and 2005 Rugby World Cup Sevens, winning the World Cup with Fiji in 1997 and 2005.

Prior to 1993 he played for the Nasinu Rugby Club in the Suva Club Rugby Competition, and represented Suva on numerous occasions.

In 1993 Serevi signed for the Mitsubishi team from Kyoto, Japan.

His initial salary was A$70,000 a year before this increased to A$90,000 a year.

While with Mitsubishi in 1994, Serevi was approached by Australian Rugby League clubs the Canberra Raiders, and later the Brisbane Crushers to play for them.

After being set to join the Crushers, Serevi decided to stay with Mitsubishi due to a pay rise, and pressure from Fiji's Methodist Church to continue playing rugby union.

He was first approached by Leicester after he played against them for a World XV at Twickenham in 1996.

He stayed at Leicester for only one season before moving to the French club Stade Montois in Mont-de-Marsan.

After joining Stade Montois, Serevi moved to the coaching staff due to the second level sides only being allowed to play two non-European Union players.

Serevi continued to play for Mitsubishi until 1997 when he joined English club Leicester on a two-year contract.

He won silver at the Commonwealth Games in 1998 and 2002, and captured bronze in 2006.

Serevi played in the International Rugby Board Sevens Series since its creation in 1999.

After getting clearance from the French Rugby Federation, Serevi was cleared to play for the club in 2001.

He continued there until joining Stade Bordelais in January 2004.

In late 2004 Serevi joined London club Staines; making his debut in a victory against Thurrock in December that year.

In 2005 after winning the 2005 Rugby World Cup Sevens Serevi was appointed player-coach of the Fiji Sevens national team.

He led Fiji to the 2005–06 World Sevens Series victory – the first time the series was won by a team other than New Zealand.

Serevi stopped playing professional club rugby in 2005.

A biography of Serevi titled Waisale Serevi: King of Sevens by Nick Darvenzi was published in 2018.