In Texas on Thursday, the Starship rocket, developed by Space X – the company of multi-billionaire Elon Musk – exploded a few minutes after takeoff. A failure for some, a simple test for others. But in Paris, the Stade Français rugby club also has its rocket. So yes, it is not 120 meters high. But it takes off, slowly but surely, without making (too much) noise. This is Peniasi Dakuwaqa.
The 26-year-old Fijian, landed in October in complete anonymity, notably made an impression last weekend during the victory of the Parisians in Brive. And left the Corréziens only a few seconds to raise the color of his crampons. A real rocket when it is put into orbit, Dakuwaqa has made its mark, to the point of seeing its contract extended in the capital.
Thomas Lombard, the General Manager of the club, told Le Figaro about his arrival in France. “When he arrived, we had no information on him except that he was running very fast”. This was confirmed by the Parisian rear Kylan Hamdaoui, this Thursday at a press conference. While playing rugby 7s in the “Tupapa Maraerenga Panthers” club in the Cook Islands, Peniasi Dakuwaqa immediately caught the eye of Parisian recruiters.
“At the end of last season, we set up an internal recruitment structure, led by Christophe Moni. As part of the various sourced profiles, we receive CVs from agents and we also do detection. So we came across the profile of Peniasi. We dug our research because there wasn’t much (laughs)! He was a player who had played rugby league and then sevens, but we still managed to collect some video data. They were screenshots made by cellphones so it was really minimalistic. And there was a wow effect! smiles Thomas Lombard.
Compared to a monster facing children, the capital club immediately knew that the boy’s talent could not escape them. And the injuries to the winger and full-back position during this period prompted Stade Français to speed up the procedures. “It was kind of rock’n’roll!” We made him go through Singapore to get his visa. Peniasi went there for four days and was able to recover it. He then returned to Paris accompanied by his wife. Christophe Moni took charge of it. We installed him in the hotel and then we found them a place to stay”.
This big guy (1m86, 95 kg), from a poor family in the Fiji Islands, insists that his wife played a central role in his development. After some adaptation time, here he is already at work, on the occasion of the In extenso supersevens – the rugby sevens tournament for professional clubs – where his qualities of speed and power have given us a glimpse of a palette already well developed.
Fluent in English, the Fijian winger adapted quickly, despite picking up an injury during the tournament. After coming into play against the Lions in the Challenge Cup (19 minutes played), “Peni” – as he is nicknamed – had only 15 minutes the following weekend to martyr the Italian defense of Treviso and score a try that made the rounds on social media.
Aligned for five consecutive days from February to April, he shone by scoring a try during the painful defeat against Racing 92 and a lightning double against Brive. A real offensive but also defensive threat. “The coaches did a very good job of supporting him to help him position himself well. He is a good defender and a good attacker. It’s even more of a headache for us to choose the wingers at the weekend!” said Gonzalo Quesada, Argentinian manager of the Soldats Roses.
Performances that led him to extend his contract in early March for three more seasons. A logical outcome, for a motivated and hardworking player. “He is determined and has real discipline. This is not always the case for all the players that we seek when they come from much less professional circuits than here. But he is really motivated and gives himself the means to succeed. It is a rough stone. We have to succeed in shaping and polishing it. He is gaining more and more confidence but is only at 50% of his real potential” says Thomas Lombard.
“It’s our ‘beep-beep'” even added his teammate Kylan Hamdaoui. And for those who are wondering who is the fastest between Macalou and Dakuwaqa, here is an answer given by Gonzalo Quesada: “According to the GPS, Peni goes a little faster, a difference of one or two km/h with Sekou. But you never know if Sekou is 100% because you always have the impression that he has a little left (smile)”.