New Sale star reveals England RWC quarter closing virtually obtained referred to as off

Waisea Nayacalevu has something to get off his chest. ‘We’ve never said this in public, but it’s time for it to go out,’ says the captain of Fiji, his gold tooth glinting in the Manchester sun. ‘We need to cut off this virus that has always been there.’

This is not the story about his encounters with Neymar and Michael Jordan, we will get to those. It is the untold truth about how Fiji almost brought last year’s World Cup to its knees by threatening to walk out 48 hours before their quarter-final against England.

‘There’s corruption in the Fiji rugby house,’ he says. ‘We weren’t going to play the match against England, we were going to walk out. They promised us things and we didn’t get it. We were promised a bonus.

‘We were staying in Marseille and I organised a presentation, a Zoom call, I organised everything, to talk about what they had promised us. We gave them a date and said, ‘If you don’t pay by this day, nobody is going to play this quarter-final’.’

The senior leadership group, including Semi Radradra, Levani Botia, Albert Tuisue and Eroni Mawi, were all on board and gathered at the Radisson Blu hotel in Marseille.

‘I’ve played for Fiji for more than 10 years and it’s the same thing over and over again,’ says Nayacalevu. ‘It’s not the first time… boys getting half-paid, boys not getting paid for weeks. We were paid on the Thursday before the England match. It was close. It distracted our focus.

‘Fiji has the potential to win the World Cup, that was our mindset last year. We were frustrated after the England match because we were building phases, but there were hands in every ruck, blocking the ball. We’re not playing with closed eyes.

‘This is probably my last year with Fiji and I told the team, ‘Boys, when I’m gone from here I hope you guys learn from this… when things happen in the future I hope you have the balls to put it in their face’. If we didn’t have corruption, if we had professional people in charge, then Fiji would be better. It’s not fair, but you have to go in there and fix it.’

For now, Nayacalevu’s focus is on Sale. He is the Premiership’s highest profile recruit for the new season, replacing Manu Tuilagi in the midfield after joining from Toulon. The 34-year-old settles into a seat at Sale’s Carrington training base and tells Mail Sport about life in France — and his switch to these shores.

‘I moved to Stade Francais at 22 and lived in Paris for 10 years,’ he says.

‘I met some cool people, some real d*******s too! It was surreal. When we won the Top 14, we went to the VIP section of a nightclub in Paris and suddenly there’s Michael Jordan. He’s surrounded by bodyguards but then I went to the toilet and Michael Jordan was next to me. I’m lost for words!

‘Another time we were in the gym and all the Paris Saint-Germain squad walk in, guys like Thiago Silva in their tracksuits. Neymar was there, touching the weights! Maybe he’d make a full back in rugby. Coming from a small village in Fiji, all of that was mind-blowing for me.

‘I had some amazing times in France, but it was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to experience something else.

‘Moving to Manchester is all part of the experience and I’m so grateful to Sale. I can’t wait. I told the boys I’ll bring them some kava, the Fijian drink, after the first game.’

Joined by his French wife Jojo and their two children, Nayacalevu has moved into a high-rise apartment in Manchester city centre. ’45th floor, bro! I’ve never been so high in my life!’ It is a world away from humble beginnings in his island village, squeezed between the mountains and the South Pacific coastline.

‘I grew up in a village called Deuba. The music is different —more Fijian love songs than Oasis! There’s not many cars. People walk, ride a horse, take a boat, village life. My dad works in a timber yard and my mum used to work in hotels. It’s a beautiful place, the people don’t know how lucky they are.

‘I was a barman at a hotel called the Uprising Beach Resort. When I was 18 the owner, who was half French and half Fijian, wanted to start a rugby team. He got the boys from the area because he wanted to advertise his hotel by having a sevens team.

‘After that he said, ‘Let’s market our resort overseas’ so we took the team to Australia, Barcelona, Rome and Brighton. I was spotted by an agent from France and got a contract. It all started from a job in a bar!’

His rags to riches journey has transformed him into a Fijian treasure. His most famous contact? The country’s president.

‘We lived in a normal house with foundations off the ground,’ he explains. ‘When there’s heavy rain, the water from the mountains comes down and the sea rises. It might rain for a week.

‘We loved playing rugby in the water, that’s where you learn the skills. Every afternoon, in every village, in every weather, everyone is playing touch rugby, barefoot with an old rugby ball or a coconut, offloading.

‘The president loves rugby and he was trying to get me to be an ambassador for climate change. I couldn’t do it because I was busy here, but he wanted me to do some stuff about the impact of rising sea level on the small islands back home. I don’t have time now — maybe after rugby.’

A future in politics? ‘I want to be prime minister!’ he says with a laugh and a flash of his gold tooth.

‘I would change everything systematically back home. The people who are running things are not open-minded. I’d change how people are looked after.

‘I just want people to be treated fairly and equally. I want to open a professional consultancy back in Fiji to advise the younger generation what it takes to be in a professional environment. That I would change things for the better of our children and our future.

‘I’ve come from nothing, from humble beginnings, to taking a p*** next to Michael Jordan.

‘I’ve seen different things around the world and from where I stand things can be better.’