Simon_Raiwalui

Simon Raiwalui

Simon Raiwalui

Rugby player

Simon Raiwalui (born 8 September 1974) is a Fijian Australian former rugby union player and coach. He served as the General Manager for his former French club, Racing Métro 92. He has represented Fiji on a number of occasions and most recently coached the team in 2023. He has also been included in the Pacific Islanders touring team for Europe in November 2006. His usual position was lock.

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Early life

Raiwalui was born in Auckland, New Zealand, but was raised and educated in Australia,[2] where, along with playing school rugby, played for club side Manly from colts level through to the under-21 side. He was also selected to represent the Australian Schoolboys alongside other footballers such as Ben Tune and Joe Roff.

Rugby career

Playing career

In 1997 he left Australia to play rugby in England. He joined the Sale Sharks, and later moved to Wales to play for Newport. He joined Saracens in 2003 and made his debut for the club in September of that year against the Newcastle Falcons. After his years at Saracens Raiwalui finished his playing career at Racing Métro 92 in France where he moved onto coaching following his retirement.[2]

He qualified for Fiji through his parents.[3] He debuted for Fiji against the New Zealand in 1997, which Raiwalui has mentioned as his best moment in rugby.[1] While with Newport, he was selected for the Fijian 1999 Rugby World Cup squad.[4] He retired from international rugby prior to the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia, though he came out of retirement for Fiji in the Pacific Nations Cup in 2006, and was then selected in the combined Pacific Nations squad that toured Europe.[5]

Coaching career

Following his retirement from rugby, Raiwalui became the forwards coach of Racing Métro 92 under head coach Gonzalo Quesada.[2] After a fairly brief stint at Racing Métro 92 Raiwalui followed Quesada over to Stade Français[6] where they won the 2014–15 Championship.[7] After following Quesada to Biarritz for the 2017–18 season,[2][6] Raiwalui joined Australia under the coach of Michael Cheika,[8] whom had previously coached Stade Français. After Cheika's reign came to an end in 2019 Raiwalui joined the Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) as a High Performance Manager.[9][10] In February 2023 following the resignation of Vern Cotter, Raiwalui became the head coach of the Fiji national team.[11] In his first role as head coach Raiwalui took the team to the Quarter-finals of the 2023 Rugby World Cup.[12]

In late 2023 Raiwalui left the FRU[13] and joined World Rugby (WR) as a High Performance Pathways and Player Development Manager.[14]

Statistics

Statistics as head coach of Fiji (2023).

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References

  1. [1]
    "Question and Answer". South Wales Echo. Reach plc. 11 December 1999. p. 68.
  2. [2]
    "Rugby World Cup quarter-finals: Fiji's French-trained head coach aims to down England". France 24. France Médias Monde. 12 October 2023.
  3. [3]
    "Raiwalui declines Fiji's advances". Watford Observer. 30 September 2003. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  4. [4]
    "Raiwalui rejects late call from Fiji". Guardian. 30 September 2003. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  5. [5]
    "Pacific Islanders turn to Raiwalui". Wales Online. 21 September 2006. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  6. [6]
    "Raiwalui, renfort de talent du Stade Français" [Raiwalui, talented reinforcement for Stade Français]. Le Parisien (in French). LVMH. 21 August 2014.
  7. [7]
    "L'ancien sélectionneur des Fidji Simon Raiwalui intègre World Rugby" [Former Fiji coach Simon Raiwalui joins World Rugby]. L'Équipe (in French). Éditions Philippe Amaury. 29 November 2023.
  8. [8]
    Doran, Christy (30 January 2020). "Rennie on hunt for new Wallabies forwards coach as Raiwalui returns to Fiji". Fox Sports Australia. News Corp Australia.
  9. [9]
    "Simon Raiwalui To Be High Performance Unit Manager". Fiji Sun. 30 January 2020.
  10. [10]
    Naivalurua, Navitalai (30 January 2023). "Simon Raiwalui appointed as new General Manager High Performance for FRU". Fiji Village.
  11. [11]
    "Raiwalui Fiji's new rugby coach ahead of World Cup". The Riverine Herald. 24 February 2023.
  12. [12]
    "England end Fiji's World Cup run with hard-fought quarter-final win". The Sydney Morning Herald. Nine Entertainment. 16 October 2023.
  13. [13]
    Williamson, Nathan (17 October 2023). "Simon Raiwalui to step down as Fiji head coach". rugby.com.au. Rugby Australia.
  14. [14]
    "Raiwalui joins World Rugby as High Performance Pathways and Player Development Manager". world.rugby. World Rugby. 28 November 2023.
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