Joe Cokanasiga (; born 15 November 1997) is a professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player for the

England national rugby union team The England national rugby union team represents England in men's international rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. England have won the championship on 29 occasion ...

. He plays

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

for Bath, having previously represented

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

. He helped his former team win promotion from the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when ...

in 2016–17 season to the

English Premiership The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

for the 2017–18 season.

Early life

Cokanasiga was born in Fiji but before his third birthday, moved to England with his father, Ilaitia, who was in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. He has lived in Germany and Brunei as his father toured those countries and learned to play rugby. They formed a father-son centre partnership for the Army Vets team before returning to the UK in 2013. Joe's first adult rugby match - on his 17th birthday - was for Old Merchant Taylors' FC on 15 November 2014, vs HAC. OMTs were then playing in London 2NW (Level 7). Joe became the top try-scorer for the club, despite only playing a part of the season. Joe continued to play for OMT and Team Honeybadger 7s throughout 2015, before moving to London Irish.

Professional career

He joined the

academy in 2015 and played for their sevens team in the

Premiership Rugby Sevens Series The Premiership Rugby Sevens Series is a friendly Rugby Sevens competition for the twelve Premiership Rugby clubs that will play the following season (i.e. the 2010 competition features the teams playing in the Aviva Premiership in the 2010� ...

and in October 2016, he signed a two-year deal to stay with the club. He made his debut in the

2016–17 RFU Championship The 2016–17 RFU Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the Greene King IPA Championship, is the eighth season of the professionalised format of the RFU Championship, the second tier of the English rugby union league system run by the R ...

on 30 October 2016 against London Scottish and scored a brilliant individual try beating multiple defenders, demonstrating his raw power and pace. In May 2018, it was announced that Cokanasiga had signed for Bath on a three-year deal. A two-year extension to this was announced in March 2021.

International career

In 2016 Cokanasiga played for the England U18 side that toured South Africa. In the

2017 Six Nations Under 20 Championship The 2017 Six Nations Under 20s Championship, was the 10th series of the Six Nations Under 20s Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Wales were the defending champions. The competition was won by England, who complet ...

he played in

England U20 England national under-20 football team, also known as England Under-20s or England U20(s), represents England in association football at an under-20 age level and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in En ...

side against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, scoring a try. Cokanasiga was called up to the senior England squad by Eddie Jones for their 2017 summer tour of Argentina. When questioned on why he had plucked the player from relative obscurity, Eddie Jones was typically blunt: "He’s big and he’s fast." He did not actually play due to picking up an injury in London Irish's end-of-season playoff battles for promotion from the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

back to the Premiership. In November 2018, Cokanasiga was selected to make his international test debut against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Eddie Jones, citing his reasons for the selection, simply stated "He’s got power and he’s got pace, there’s something a little bit special about him". Cokanasiga scored on his international debut in a hard-fought win over Japan. He retained his place for the next match in the Quilter Autumn Internationals, against Australia, and put in a powerful performance capped by a try in the second half. On 12 August 2019, Cokanasiga was named as part of Jones' 31-man squad for the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

. He would only make one appearance in the tournament, starting in England's pool game against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He scored two tries in a 45-7 win but did not make the match day squad for the rest of England's campaign Cokanasiga returned from the World Cup with a serious knee injury. He was out for almost a year following surgery, meaning that he was unavailable for the 2020 Six Nations. His next England selection came on 10 June 2021, when Jones named him as part of his squad for the 2021 Summer Internationals against the USA and Canada. Cokanasiga started against the United States on 4 July 2021, scoring two tries. He then went on to score two more tries the week after in England's 70-14 victory over Canada. Cokanasiga again injured his knee in a preseason game for Bath against Cardiff Rugby, meaning that he missed out on selection for the 2021 Autumn Nations Series. He has now scored 12 tries in 12 Test matches.

International tries

References

External links

London Irish Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cokanasiga, Joe English rugby union players London Irish players Bath Rugby players 1997 births Living people Rugby union wings I-Taukei Fijian people Fijian rugby union players Fijian expatriate rugby union players Fijian expatriate sportspeople in Germany England international rugby union players