Petero Civoncieva: NRL can take boy out of Fiji, not Fiji out of boy

Petero Civoncieva - Fiji’s greatest rugby league recruit, will be the man standing in the way of ’the Bati’ claiming test football’s biggest scalp at the SFS tomorrow night.

The man born in Suva, Fiji in 1976, will do everything in his power to stop his birth nation gaining a place in next week’s world cup decider at Suncorp stadium between either England or New Zealand.

The 110kg Prop will stop at nothing to see his native Fiji bundle out in the semi-finals of the world cup in utter humiliation.

But why?

It is likely now that Civoncieva is more Australian than most people think.

He talks like an Australian of course, while he also plays for the Penrith Panthers in the NRL competition.

Prior to that, Civoncieva developed a cult following at the Brisbane Broncos, playing 215 games for the club under the tutelage of none other than Wayne Bennett.

But what makes him more Australian than most of the team-mates he will play with tomorrow night, is his success and performance in the representative arena.

Civoncieva has played 23 times for the Maroons in State of Origin competition, which places him behind only Steve Price and Darren Lockyer in more current games played for Queensland.

Of course, the biggest indicator that sees Civoncieva more of an Australian than anything else is his 33 games for the Kangaroos - only second to captain Lockyer in games played for Australia in the current Kangaroos 24 man squad this season.

In all of those matches for Australia, he has been known for his reliability and durability to get the job done, no matter what the circumstances.

Wearing the green and gold for as long as he has makes one adopt Australia’s ‘no mercy’ aura against opposition.

Suddenly there is no more room for Civoncieva to hope Fiji put on a good show in their maiden world cup semi-final.

Indeed Civoncieva will cry tears of torment tomorrow night if his beloved Australia bundles out of world cup reckoning against his true home nation.

The 32 year old will have nothing to do with Fiji’s celebrations if they win this world cup. Because after ten seasons in the NRL, which have yielded 56 rep games in all formats of competition, Civoncieva will be one of 22 million other Australian’s wondering how it all went wrong.

Not that Fiji will care in the slightest. Because a NSW Origin player by the name of Jarryd Hayne will seek to destroy the Kangaroos aura of invulnerability in world league.

So what if he plays for the Parramatta Eels in the NRL. So what if he has played six times for the Blues in Origin.

Hayne’s love for Australia will take a back seat as he dons the white jersey of his native Fiji. That’s the way it should be and it’s the only way international rugby league will grow.

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