It's a dream come true for Rauluni

It was always Mosese Rauluni's goal to return home and coach a national team.

This came true last week after the 48-year-old Qarani, Gau, Lomaiviti, native was appointed the head coach for the Rooster Chicken Fijian Drua women's and the Vodafone Fijiana 15s side.

Following his retirement from professional rugby in 2009, Rauluni was offered a contract to coach Saracens (England) Academy and also work with the senior.

A team and the Flying Fijians side for the 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWC) campaign.

These offers motivated the former Flying Fijians captain to work on his coaching accreditation for such level.

"I soon realised at that time I was nowhere near a level to coach that calibre of players," he said.

"Playing at a high level doesn't mean that you will become a good coach, so when we moved back to Brisbane, I said to myself I needed to work my way up the ranks."

He started his coaching career from schools (St Pat's School and some others), moved to colts and a couple years later coached senior men's rugby teams.

"I got called back into John McKee's 2015 RWC management team and felt a lot more confident with my coaching," Rauluni added.

"As a coach you are always learning because the game is changing so fast.

"So in short, yes I always wanted to come back and help, which is similar to most of the ex-players who take on coaching. Our hearts are in Fiji always wherever you are in the world."

Rauluni has played 43 Tests for the Flying Fijians and was captain of the team to the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France where Fiji lost to South Africa, 37-20, in the quarterfinal. They had upset Wales 38-34 in the pool game.

He was Brisbane's Easts Rugby head coach in 2018, 2022 Rugby World Cup Fijiana 15s assistant coach and Queensland Reds assistant coach for Super W in 2023.

Story by: sereana.salalo@fijisun.com.fj 

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