Sereima Leweniqila (born 5 May 1990) 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 captained Fiji at the delayed

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, ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Early life

Leweniqila hails from Nabouno, Udu, and Macuata. She also has maternal links to Namara, and Kadavu.

Rugby career

2017

Leweniqila represented

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 the 2017 World Cup Asia/Oceania Qualifier in

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 ...

2022

Leweniqila was named as captain of 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 in their inaugural

2022 Super W season The 2022 Super W season was the fifth edition of the Super W competition. The Fijiana Drua joined the five Super W teams for the 2022 season, and won the championship. The New South Wales Waratahs#Women's team, New South Wales Waratahs were the fo ...

. She started in their debut match against the

Rebels Rebels may refer to: * Participants in a rebellion * Rebel groups, people who refuse obedience or order * Rebels (American Revolution), patriots who rejected British rule in 1776 Film and television * ''Rebels'' (film) or ''Rebelles'', a 2019 ...

. She then faced the

Reds Reds may refer to: General * Red (political adjective), supporters of Communism or socialism * Reds (January Uprising), a faction of the Polish insurrectionists during the January Uprising in 1863 * USSR (or, to a lesser extent, China) during th ...

in the second round of the competition. She also featured in their 45–17 victory over 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. ...

. She next captained the team as they ended the Waratahs 20 game winning streak. The Drua defeated the Brumbies 17–7 in the final round and booked themselves a spot in the Grand Final. The captaincy was given to

Bitila Tawake Bitila Tawake (born 2 April 1999) is a Fijian rugby union player. She competed for Fiji at the delayed 2021 Rugby World Cup. She also plays for the Fijiana Drua in the Super W competition. Early life Tawake hails from Mualevu, Vanua Balavu in ...

as the Drua met the Waratahs again in the Grand Final. Despite a last minute comeback from the Waratahs, the Drua held on to win a thrilling Grand Final. In May 2022, Leweniqila was selected for the

Fijiana The Fiji women's national rugby sevens team represents Fiji at regional and international sevens tournaments. They have won three Pacific Games gold medals, two Oceania Championships, a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games and a bronze medal a ...

squad for two test matches against Australia and Japan. She played in the first test 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 ...

. She also played 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 ...

, it was the first meeting between the two sides. In September 2022, 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 named as captain of the Fijiana team for the

2023

Leweniqila led the Fijiana's in their second test against the Wallaroos on 20 May at the Allianz Stadium, her side were defeated 22–5.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leweniqila, Sereima 1990 births Living people Fijian female rugby union players Fiji women's international rugby union players Fiji international women's rugby sevens players