Rookie Fiji Airways Flying Fijians hooker Mesulame Dolokoto is looking forward to playing under Glasgow Warriors head coach Dave Rennie.

Rennie coached Chiefs to win the Super Rugby title in 2012 and 2013 before moving to join the Warriors. He is now one of the leading contenders to the All Blacks coaching job.

Dolokoto flew out of the country yesterday and was farewelled by his family.

“I’m also looking forward to meeting Warriors captain Callum Gibbins who played for the Hurricanes before.

“And it will be great play alongside him and he’ll be the first player to take a picture with,” the 24-year-old said as he will meet-up with Flying Fijians team-mate Nikola Matawalu who is with the Warriors as well.

“Gibbins played with the Savea brothers so to meet him will be an inspiration to me.”

The Koroivonu, Tunuloa, Cakaudrove native admitted that being away from home will definitely be hard.

“I’ve been to boarding school and to be far away from home, I’ll get homesick but to assist with that I’ve taken a bucket of biscuits.

“When you leave, you are expected to return after one or two weeks, but not now.

“I’m going for an extended period of time so it is not easy to be away from the family. I know that I am not doing this for myself alone but for my family as a whole. I just have to set a positive mindset.

“I wish I could play for Fiji against the Barbarians but my visa was approved so I am going now. It would be fun playing against the Barbarians and I wish the team well.

“Whenever I feel homesick, I will eat two biscuits to keep me away from being homesick,” the former Queen Victoria School student said.

His dad, Kalisito Dolokoto, a former Army and Suva utility back was lost for words as he farewelled his son.

“This is of no surprise as we have been supporting Mesu since his days from the Milo Kaji, Deans, to the Drua and to then Flying Fijians for the World Cup.

“It is the parental support that has enabled my son to come this far.

“It is our duty as a rugby player to represent the nation, unfortunately, I fell short as I was part of peacekeeping duties in the Middle East on many occasions.

“If I had such parental support no doubt, I would have reached this far as well.”

Edited by Leone Cabenatabua

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