The notion that rugby is a male-dominated sport has never discouraged Veniana Lewarara. Many years ago, she ignored the stereotypes that many people used to keep women like her in boxes.
She followed her heart, picked up the rugby ball and joined the sport. The 23-year-old captain of Nasinu Rugby Women’s Club led her team to victory last month in the Royal Tea Ranadi Championship.
Her team beat Naitasiri 24-19 in extra time at Nausori’s Ratu Cakobau Park.
The young champ attended Nakurukuruvakatini Primary School in Naitasiri before finishing her studies at Ballantine Memorial School in Delainavesi, Lami. Originally from Korovou, Wainimala, Naitasiri, Lewarara first started playing rugby while still at high school.
“The first team I engaged with was the Nasinu rugby team back in 2019,” she said.
“I started playing in the women’s 10s rugby tournaments before moving to 15s.” In 2020, Lewarara joined the Women’s Fijiana 15s team as flyhalf.
“While I was with the Fijiana squad, training was gruelling and that was to be expected because it was the national team,” she said.
“I just had to vosota (persevere) and kept training – it was good preparation for my future in rugby. During the COVID-19 lockdown, Veniana went to the village to take a break from the game. Winning the Ranadi Cup, she said, was a blessing for her 25-member team because they achieved success beyond their wldest expectation. The win has guaranteed Nasinu a spot in the ANZ Marama Championship next season.
“The youngest in our team is about 15 years old and our forwards are in the early to mid-20’s, the oldest being 29,” Lewarara says.
“Because we are almost the same age, during training it is quite easy to communicate and guide them because they listen well.”
Lewarara said, however, as ladies, they faced quite a number of challenges while gearing up for the final. Each player encountered financial hardships and each now has a unique success story to tell.
“Sometimes we had no bus fare, so we had to ask our coach for money. But the desire to win remained at the back of our minds. The team has chosen to put the past behind and set its goal for the Marama Championship next year.
“The Marama Cup is mostly made up of experienced players.
“So it will take a lot of hard work to prepare ourselves for the tournament next year, but we will be ready.”
The young woman’s advice to girls thinking of taking up the sport of rugby was ‘go for it’.
“Women’s rugby is slowly getting a lot of recognition. Women are now joining the sport and declaring their passion for rugby openly, not like five years ago,” Lewarara says.
“You never know where rugby will take you – so just dream the dream and go for it.”
