Gregor Paul: The lessons learned from All Blacks star's 15 minutes of fame

Pita Gus Sowakula of New Zealand. Photo / Photosport.co.nz

Opinion:

Pita Gus Sowakula chased his dream. And for a short while this July, he lived it.

The Fijian-born Sowakula had his Andy Warhol 15 minutes of fame in the All Blacks series against Ireland.

His story was intriguing, inspiring, too. He was working as a chef in Fiji in 2015 until a chance meeting with a player agent led to him being offered an opportunity to play rugby in Taranaki sight unseen. It was an offer made on the strength of his physique and obvious athleticism which had enabled him to previously play, briefly, for the Otago Nuggets basketball team.

He turned out to be as handy as everyone suspected and after he realised No 8 was his position, rather than wing, he made it to the Taranaki side, then the Chiefs and after he delivered a series of compelling performances earlier this year, he won All Blacks selection.

The crowning moment came in the final quarter of the first test against Ireland at Eden Park, when Sowakula came off the bench and scored a try.

He had a memory for life, a little piece of history that would always be his and one with such enormous emotional value as to make light of all the sacrifices and tough times endured in the process of capturing it

But now he's vanished. The All Blacks dropped him for the Rugby Championship and his name wasn't included in the 28 who will travel to the UK and Ireland next month as the All Blacks XV.

Social media has reached its own conclusion as to what's happened, but it's more probable that having had a decent look at him in July, the All Blacks lost their conviction he was a player for them.

It may also be that Sowakula was picked when John Plumtree was a selector and dropped after Jason Ryan arrived as forwards coach. One man's pleasure being another man's poison and all that.

Whatever the reason for it, Sowakula has fallen a long way in a short time and in doing so, has highlighted once again the dilemma facing those who are dual qualified.

It would be easy with hindsight, and with Sowakula seemingly a long way from forcing his way back into the All Blacks, to say he made a mistake in agreeing to play for New Zealand.

In 2020, when he was winning regular game time for the Chiefs, he piqued the interest of Fiji coach Vern Cotter, who was looking for a rangy, ball-carrying No 8 with the wider skill-set to fit into the expansive game plan he was building.

Sowakula, who was 25 at the time, would, most likely, have been a regular starter for Fiji. Or at least, he would, had he committed, have likely been in their 2023 World Cup squad.

But that can't happen now because he has committed his eligibility to New Zealand and while that is not terminal due to the change in the eligibility laws, he'll have to wait three years since his last All Blacks cap before he can re-qualify for Fiji.

So, maybe, he'll play at the 2027 World Cup for Fiji, but that's a long way into the future and he'll be 31.

Who knows what toll the game will have taken by then and what sort of athlete he'll be and whether he'd even be of interest to Fiji who aren't short of blokes his size who can't make up their minds whether they are wings or loose forwards.

All Black Pita Gus Sowakula celebrating his try during the Rugby test match between the All Blacks and Ireland. Photo / Dean Purcell.

Given the choices that were seemingly open to him, and the way things have turned out, the emotional balance feels like it should be weighted heavily towards regret.

Sowakula, one could easily imagine, might feel like the game show contestant who turned down the offer of a free Toyota Corolla for the chance to drive a Bentley for a week and then give it back.

But he shouldn't, because no one who sets out with a dream should regret that they chased it, and in Sowakula's case, he pulled off the virtually impossible by turning up in New Zealand as a total unknown with no age-grade legacy to back him up and six years later become an All Black.

That's not something to regret, it's something to be eternally proud of and no one should judge him for the choices he made.

What needs to be held to account is the system, and the inequity in the global game which means that international sides can be separated by just a few places in the rankings but have high-performance budgets that are different by tens of millions of dollars.

Nothing better illustrates the power imbalance in the global game than the fact emerging players in Fiji are growing up dreaming about becoming All Blacks.

That's the problem World Rugby and the established heavyweight rugby nations have to work together to fix.

Fiji needs to be part of a regular, meaningful competition and the likes of New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, France, England and Ireland need to agree to play them more.

More rugby for Fiji leads to more money for Fiji and more money leads to less imbalance and easier, less conflicted decision-making for players with a choice in which nations they can represent.

Fijians have to aspire to play for Fiji first and the Sowakula's of this world shouldn't have to make decisions between chasing a higher-risk but higher financial reward international career with the likes of the All Blacks or Wallabies, or a longer and no doubt more emotionally fulfilling but less lucrative career with the likes of Fiji, Samoa or Tonga.