Isireli Bobo (born 28 January 1976), is a

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 ...

an rugby union footballer.

Early career

Early in his career, he played for

Grupo Dramático e Sportivo Cascais Grupo Dramático e Sportivo Cascais is a Portuguese rugby union team. It had a player, Paulo Murinello, at the Portuguese squad that participated at the 2007 Rugby World Cup finals. It also has a team that plays in Liga Portuguesa de Futsal Lig ...

, a Portuguese team. He was in the Nawaqavesi 7s and was subsequently picked to play at the Japan 7s in 1998. He also played with the Fiji sevens side at the Dubai and Durban sevens circuits. He then signed with Spanish club UCM Canoe, and the side went on to win the King's Cup in the 2001 season. Stade Toulousain - Racing Métro 2

He returned to

for the 2002 season and went on to captain the sevens side in 2003, as well as becoming a try-scoring machine; scoring 22 in just three tournaments.

2003–2010

He subsequently signed with Wellington for the National Provincial Championship (NPC). He played 13 matches for the Wellington club, scoring seven tries. He then was called up to the

Super 12 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

, and played five games for the Hurricanes. He made his international debut for

on 5 June 2004 in a match against Tonga in Nuku'alofa which Fiji won by one point, 27 to 26, with Bobo scoring the winning try. He earned his second cap for Fiji on 12 June in the win over Samoa. In July he played four times for the Pacific Islanders team (a combination of the best Fijian, Samoan and Tongan footballers). He scored a try for Biarritz Olympique in the

2005–06 Heineken Cup The 2005–06 Heineken Cup was the eleventh edition of the European Heineken Cup rugby union club tournament. 24 teams from 7 countries took part, with the opening game played on Friday October 21, 2005. Munster won the tournament, beating Biarritz ...

final against

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

, though Biarritz eventually lost the final 23 points to 19. However, Biarritz made it to the final of the 2005–06 Top 14 as well, and were victorious against Toulouse, with Bobo scoring one of Biarritz's tries. He finished the season as Biarritz's top try scorer, and second in the overall competition. In 2007 Bobo signed for Racing Métro and was called up -as a reserve- to the Fiji 2007 Rugby World Cup squad, playing in the quarter final loss to the eventual winners South Africa.

2010–present

In June 2013, he heeded the call of his nation by joining the team for the

2013 IRB Pacific Nations Cup The 2013 Pacific Nations Cup rugby union tournament was held between five national sides in the Pacific Region: Canada national rugby union team, Canada, Fiji national rugby union team, Fiji, Japan national rugby union team, Japan, Tonga national r ...

, In the first minute of their game 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 ...

, he made a break passing the ball onto his winger,

Adriu Delai Adriu Delai (born June 11, 1984) is a Fijian Rugby union player. He is a an international and has played for several French clubs in the Pro D2 and Fédérale 1. In 2016 he played against Georgia in a test match for their 2016 mid-year tour. He w ...

who ran 20 metres and passed it to him to score. He could not travel to Canada due to visa delays but was instrumental in Fiji's next 2 games and in their last game against Tonga, he ran 60 metres to score Fiji's first try and helped Fiji win the

PNC PNC may refer to: Government and politics * Congolese National Police, in French: ''Police nationale congolaise'' * Colombian National Police, in Spanish: ''Policía Nacional de Colombia'' * National Civil Police of El Salvador, in Spanish: '' ...

for the very first time. He signed a contract with a Japanese club,

NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes Osaka is a Japanese rugby union team owned by NTT DoCoMo. They qualified for the 2011–12 season and finished 12th place overall. The team rebranded in 2022, ahead of the rebranding of the Top League to the Japan Rugb ...

for 5 years which means he will play for the club till the age of 42.Fijian flyer Bobo signs new deal
/ref> On 14 June 2014, he became the oldest player ever to represent Fiji when he ran onto the field at 38 years and 137 days old against Tonga. He left Japan and joined Top 14 side La Rochelle in late 2014. After a successful season, he retired from Rugby at the end of the season only to be recalled again by Top 14 Giants, Toulon as a 'medical joker' for the duration of the

2015 Rugby World Cup The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was onl ...

in which he scored 3 tries in 5 games and on 1 November, newly promoted club Pau signed him on from Toulon for the remainder of the 2015–16 Top 14 season.

References

External links

*
Fiji profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bobo, Sireli 1976 births Fijian rugby union players Living people Rugby union wings Biarritz Olympique players Racing 92 players NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes Osaka players Wellington rugby union players Hurricanes (rugby union) players Fiji international rugby union players Pacific Islanders rugby union players Fijian expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in France Expatriate rugby union players in New Zealand Expatriate rugby union players in Portugal Expatriate rugby union players in Japan Expatriate rugby union players in Italy Fijian expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Fijian expatriate sportspeople in France Fijian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Fijian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Fijian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Fiji international rugby sevens players Male rugby sevens players People from Rakiraki I-Taukei Fijian people