Ilivasi Sevia Tabua Tamanivalu (born 30 September 1964 in Naivicula) is a Fijian former rugby union footballer who played at international level for both

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

as a

flanker Flanker may refer to: * Flanker (perfume), a newly created perfume sharing attributes of an existing one * Flanker (rugby union), a position in rugby union (not found in rugby league) * ''Su-27 Flanker'' (video game), a 1996 computer game modelin ...

. He was nicknamed The Human Skewer. He also coached Fiji at the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

Career

Tabua played for

sevens team in the 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, after which he played for

in fifteens in the

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in Sou ...

. He has played 10 tests for

. In the

1999 Rugby World Cup The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was principally hosted by Wales, and was won by Australia. This was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's professi ...

he played for the

team.

Personal life

He was raised in a family of seven siblings five boys and two girls, his son's named Ilivasi Noah Taminivalu. He later left Noah and his mother. He spent the first 12 years of his childhood in the Lau group as his father was a teacher at one of the schools on the chiefly island. Ilivasi started school at Mabula, Cicia in Lau before his family moved to the mainland in the 1970s. His family settled at Naivicula,

Tailevu Tailevu is one of the 14 provinces of Fiji. Overview One of the eight provinces based in Viti Levu, Fiji's largest island, Tailevu's 755 square kilometers occupy the south-eastern fringe of the island along with some central areas. At the 2017 ...

where his father comes from. He attended

Marist Brothers High School Marist Brothers High School is a Roman Catholic all-boys' high school situated in Suva, the capital of Fiji. It is a school in the Marist tradition, founded in 1946 by the order of Marist Brothers, which has had a presence in Fiji since 1844. ...

. In 1980, Ilivasi left to further his studies in

Coaching career

After retiring from international rugby, he came back to Fiji to help the Fiji team to prepare for the

. He was recently appointed the head coach of Fiji's HPU and helped the former Fiji coach Wayne Pivac with the Fiji team, but when Pivac resigned from Fiji rugby in January 2007, Tabua was picked as the man to replace him and he was chosen as the new coach. He was also the first Fijian to be appointed the national coach to the Rugby World Cup. He comes at the tail end of a succession of expatriates including

George Simpkin George Dreadon Simpkin (22 May 1943 – 7 May 2020) was a New Zealand rugby union coach, known for working with the national teams of Fiji, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka. He made a great contribution to the development of rugby union and rugby seve ...

, Brad Johnstone, Greg Smith,

Mac McCallion Warrick Lee "Mac" McCallion (26 July 1950 – 14 March 2018) was a New Zealand rugby union player and coach. McCallion served in the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment of the New Zealand Army during the Vietnam War. Aged 17, and having lied abo ...

and Pivac who left in January 2007. On 19 August 2009 Tabua was sacked by the Fiji Rugby Union citing off-field incidents during Fiji's

2009 IRB Pacific Nations Cup The 2009 Pacific Nations Cup is a rugby union tournament held between five national sides on the Pacific Rim: Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and the Junior All Blacks. The New Zealand Māori team that won the tournament last year will no longer take pa ...

campaign.National rugby coach Ilivasi Tabua sacked
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Notes and references

External links

BioFiji Times interviewFiji profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tabua, Ilivasi 1964 births Living people People educated at Marist Brothers High School, Fiji Fijian rugby union coaches Fijian rugby union players Rugby union flankers Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Fiji international rugby union players Fiji national rugby union team coaches Fijian emigrants to Australia People from Nadroga-Navosa Province