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Experienced Fijian hooker Sam Matavesi has demanded a “change” within his country’s rugby union as he moves to French Top 14 club Lyon before traveling to La Rochelle on Saturday.
Matavesi was part of the Flying Fijians team that threatened strike action over unpaid union wages during last year’s Rugby World Cup.
The 32-year-old along with leading players such as regular captain Waisea Nayacalevu and flanker Levani Botia recently spoke about the chaotic build-up to the quarter-final defeat to England last October.
“It’s a crazy deal,” Matavesi told AFP on Thursday.
“Going forward, I think there needs to be some serious changes within the Fiji Rugby board.
“Everyone has to go in the right direction.
“If you want to see Fiji making more of the World Cup quarter-finals and getting into the top eight or six in the world rankings, then there needs to be some serious changes,” he added.
Fiji’s next set of matches after their second-row team won the Pacific Nations Cup in September is in November when they travel to Scotland, Wales, Spain and Ireland.
The trip to Edinburgh is played outside the international window, but Matavesi and his Lyon teammate Semi Radradra have put their hands up for selection for three more matches despite off-field problems.
“We’re both available,” Matavesi said.
“If the match is in the window we are free to play, the next thing is to be picked,” he added jokingly.
Matavesi, who made his Test debut in 2013, joined Lyon at the start of the season after five seasons with English club Northampton.
“So far it’s been amazing, a completely different way of life,” said Matavesi, originally from Cornwall.
“We are settling in, the children are in a local French school.
“We have a routine now, we have espressos in the morning at our local coffee shop and things like that,” he added.
– Post-match pasty –
His departure from Franklin’s Gardens coincided with English rugby’s growing financial problems and the blossoming of the sport in France.
One of Matavesi’s first tastes of the Top 14 was a trip to newly promoted Vannes, the first Breton team to appear in the first division.
“We went to Vannes in the last away match, it was incredible, the noise, the people,” Matavesi said.
“The morning of the game we want for the team walk, we had people booing us, cheering us, honking at us, a completely different vibe here.
“The atmosphere is much more like a party atmosphere,” he added.
Matavesi’s focus this weekend will be a trip to La Rochelle and a reunion with another former Truro College student in former England center Jack Nowell.
“I know him well,” Matavesi said.
“He came here and showed what he could do.
“It’s fascinating to see.
“I’m really excited to see him and catch up with him. I might message him to see if he can make me some Cornish Pasty for after the game!” Matavesi added ahead of Saturday’s fifth-round match.
Elsewhere, French scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec and his Racing 92 team take on his father Golven as head coach of Vannes.
Toulouse will likely play their final match before Antoine Dupont ends his post-Olympic vacation as the champions head to local rivals Castres and championship leaders Bordeaux-Begles host Bayonne.
Calendar (all times GMT)
SATURDAY
Vannes against Racing 92 (1230), Stade Français against Montpellier, La Rochelle against Lyon, Bordeaux-Begles against Bayonne, Perpignan against Pau (1430), Castres against Toulouse (1905)
Sunday
Clermont against Toulon (1905)
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