Rugby: French connection a winner for Matiu

By CHRIS RATTUE

Auckland-born Legi Matiu is on the verge of making his international rugby debut for France, at the tender age of 31, in the Six Nations.

Matiu was relaxing at his family's bach at Kawakawa Bay, south of Auckland, when he learnt he had been included in the 35-man French squad named this week.

It means the 1.94 metre, 117kg lock is close to becoming the first New Zealander to play for France.

Matiu, his wife Careen, and their two young children left New Zealand late last night to go back to France.

Matiu, who plays for Biarritz alongside Frano Botica and Glen Osborne, headed to France in the early 1990s with a team-mate from Ponsonby.

They played for a minor club where he was spotted by a scout for Toulon, who lured him back. He switched to Biarritz four seasons ago.

"I was doing an engineering intermediate paper at varsity and I was really aiming to come back and keep doing that - I only intended playing there for one season," said Matiu.

"But one season led to another and I've basically lived in France for the past six years.

"If you've played in France for 36 months you qualify to play for them and I knew that I was eligible. But I had absolutely no idea they were even considering me.

"The manager of my club rung on Monday. I was totally surprised. I never thought I would get a chance to play international rugby, especially at my age.

"It's all a bit of a mystery to me at the moment and I don't know what to expect. I haven't even seen the full squad so I don't know what my chances are of playing in the championships."

Matiu, whose parents are Samoan, went to St Pauls College and played a couple of senior games for Ponsonby before heading overseas.

The closest he had come to international selection was when he played for a French Barbarians side which beat South Africa at Biarritz. He knew of the 36-month qualification rule because it had enabled South African forward Pieter de Villiers to make France's World Cup squad.

Matiu has only been to one championship game, between England and France at Twickenham, and has never played at the Stade de France in Paris.

He says France's stunning win over the All Blacks in the World Cup semi-final had boosted the popularity of the game in areas where it had played second fiddle to other sports.

"I was cheering for both teams - I've developed a bit of French loyalty," he said.

"With 15 minutes to go, the phone started ringing from people I knew all over France who wanted to give me a hard time."