“On the field, if you make a mistake there’s always next time, you can review yourself and come back stronger. Out there in Afghanistan you need to be on edge, and on top every single day. If you mess up, it can cost someone else’s life.”
Perspective. We all need it. Anyone getting whipped up into a sense of fervour ahead of the commencement of the autumn internationals would do well to spend a few minutes in the presence of Lance Corporal Semesa Rokoduguni, England’s latest recruit and surely one of the most humble, grounded men to ever pull on the white shirt.
Seeing active duty in Afghanistan – a challenge the majority of us will never come close to understanding – will likely give you those values. It would also, you suspect, allow you to take the rest of life’s challenges in your stride. Like, say, running out at Twickenham to make your England debut against the All Blacks.
Rokoduguni’s experiences in the army will certainly stand him in good stead to handle what, for most people, would be the most intimidating moment of their life.
“It’s similar to the pressure I felt out there in Afghanistan,” he says, of how he feels about playing the biggest game of his rugby career. “Out there [in Afghanistan], you have to be spot on with your drills, being punctual and dressing up correctly. Discipline, you have to be alert all the time. That mentality, taking it across to the rugby pitch, it fits in quite well. You need all those sort of points out there on the field.”
It is a remarkable journey for a man who never saw rugby as part of his future, but merely as a hobby. For someone so physically gifted, however, it is hardly surprising he has got to this level.
Family is clearly immensely important to Rokoduguni, and indeed he joined the army as a way of supporting his, back home in Fiji. It is there that he took the first steps towards where he finds himself today.
“Rugby wasn’t part of the plan,” he admits. “The plan, when I was 19 years old, was to join the army and send money home to support the family.
“Things changed when rugby started popping up. I was doing well at Army rugby and then all of a sudden Bath phoned up; the goal starts to change, the targets start to change and that’s when the international call comes up.”
Family plays a part in his pre-game routine, too, with his two year old son, Elijah, one of the last faces he sees before running out onto the pitch before a game.
“I’ve got pictures of my son and my family, that I look at. With that mentality, just imagining all those families back at home watching you, and you not performing, will let them down. With them on your mind, you want to prove to the world and your family that you can be the best out there.”
His call-up didn’t come a moment too soon, given the form he has been showing in a Bath shirt this year. Seven tries already and a recent player of the month award are just the icing on the cake for a man who has been beating defenders for fun. The video clip of him skinning Andrea Masi, an accomplished defender, earlier this year was so astonishingly good that it went viral amongst the rugby community.
His newest boss has been impressed with how he has taken everything in his stride.
“His life experiences have showed – he’s very composed, very calm, very mature and diligent,” says England head coach Stuart Lancaster. “In terms of getting up to speed with a slightly different system – different calls, and ways to defend – I haven’t seen him make an error in training, in the last two and a half weeks.
“And we’ve put the players under a lot of pressure. His communication is good. You can only replicate so much in training – the proof will be on Saturday – but all the markers, that you look for as a coach, are there.”
Whatever happens out on the pitch tomorrow, it is nothing compared to the harrowing events he experienced out in Afghanistan as recently as 2011. One moment in particular, when a colleague of his stepped on a land-mine metres away from where he was standing, sticks with him to this day.
“I always think about this stuff, going back three or four years to when this incident happened,” says Rokoduguni. “The marine soldier, he’s very badly injured, and it gives me the boost to make the most of every opportunity that I have, because you don’t know what’s going to happen next.
“It could be you with a serious injury. When you’ve got the chance, you need to give everything that you’ve got.”
Poignantly, England’s first serving officer since Tim Rodber will make his debut on remembrance weekend, a moving coincidence that hasn’t passed Rokoduguni by.
“On remembrance weekend, I’m not only representing Bath and family, but the whole armed forces. I’m representing every single one of them.”
By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images