Fiji star Levani Botia is a former prison guard hoping to keep England at bay in Sunday’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final. The 34-year-old has been dubbed the ‘demolition man’ in La Rochelle, France, where he has played for the last nine years since leaving his job and homeland.
Botia is one of the stars of the Fiji team hoping to knock Steve Borthwick’s Lions out of the tournament this weekend. It would be the second scalp over England in a matter of months after Fiji’s shock win at Twickenham in August.
England’s shadow squad of back row players have been lined up to “play” like Botia in preparation for his threat. But the Fijian is not scared of the Red Rose – having worked as a prison guard before his rugby career took off.
“My province is Naitasiri in the middle interior of the island. They always said I’m from the bush, I’m from the mountains. I didn’t expect to be walking into a prison to work. It wasn’t my calling,” Botia said.
“Working in a prison is not simple. That’s obvious from the outside but inside it is difficult. You’re dealing with people who have done something wrong, breaking the rules, the law. So it’s not easy when you are inside there.
“I played a game in the prison and the coach of the warden team found me a small club to play for. That was playing sevens and it wasn’t until 2013 and my first game for the Flying Fijians against Portugal that I played 15s.
“So I worked every day, to try to find the right path for me. Luckily, I got a contract to play in France. That was part of my dream when I was a kid. I saw Fijian players who had gone there who became big names around the world and in France as well.
“I expected to come over for a medical joker, just for three months. It was almost the end of the season, five games left. But they asked me to stay and I decided to leave the prison. I had to leave because I had the opportunity and I was excited to take it.
“And now, when I have hard times on the field, that experience in the prison is something I can look back on to encourage me to keep going.”
With a lack of resources as a youngster, Botia recalls getting into rugby by playing with whatever he could get his hands on. That would vary from an empty bottle or a coconut.
He continued: “This is the game of a lifetime for us, the best moment. I think if you ask any Fijian, playing now or young kids back at home, everyone loves rugby. It’s the sport that runs through our blood.
“When we were kids at school, we loved it. But we didn’t always have a rugby ball, so we’d use anything – empty bottles, coconuts, anything, just to play rugby.
“The sport gave us a challenge every time because we watched our brothers who have been playing a few years when we were kids and we just all wanted to wear the white jersey as well and jump on the field.”
It will be 3am in Fiji when Botia goes up against England in France. But reflecting on his own childhood experiences, he knows the country’s population will find a way of watching the World Cup battle.
He added: “When I was a kid we didn’t have mains electricity but we had a generator. So we took it to the mountain where we tried to find a reception to watch the TV.
“As I said, rugby goes through our blood, it does not matter your age. We just climbed the mountain. They are always behind the players when there’s a Fiji game.”
