Merevesi Fuga Ofakimalino (born 30 March 1994) is a Fijian

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. She plays for Suva in the ANZ Marama Championship and for

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 ...

at an international level.

Rugby career

Ofakimalino made her international debut for

against

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

at the 2016 Oceania Championship. In December, she made an appearance for the Fijiana's again at the 2017 World Cup Repechage tournament 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 ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. In 2022, Ofakimalino was selected for the

Fijiana Drua Fijiana Drua are a Fijian rugby union team based in Australia. Rugby Australia announced in February 2022 that they had joined the Super W competition. History The Fijiana Drua would is the first Fijian team to join the Super W competition with ...

squad for their

Super W The Super W is a women's rugby union competition held in Australia. The inaugural season was in 2018, when it replaced the former National Women's Rugby Championship. The are the most successful team so far, . Teams Six women's rugby teams c ...

debut. She made her Super W debut against the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. ...

in the third round of competition. She also featured against the Waratahs and the

Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005–2022 as simply the Brumbies) is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the brumby, feral horses whi ...

in the final two rounds. She finally appeared in the Grand Final against the Waratahs as the Drua wrapped up a perfect season with their first title. Ofakimalino was named in the Fijiana squad for two test matches against Australia and Japan in May. She came off the bench in the first test against

. She was in the starting line up in the second test against

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 ...

. Ofakimalino was recalled into the Fijiana squad for the 2022 Oceania Championship in New Zealand. She scored a try in the Fijiana's 152–0 annihilation of

. She played in the test against

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

which they won 34–7. In September she played in a warm up match against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. She was also named in the Fijiana squad for the

2021 Rugby World Cup The 2021 Rugby World Cup was the ninth staging of the women's Rugby World Cup, as organised by World Rugby. It was held from 8 October to 12 November 2022 in Auckland and Whangārei, New Zealand. It was originally scheduled to be held in 2021, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ofakimalino, Merevesi 1994 births Living people Fijian female rugby union players Fiji women's international rugby union players