Flying Fijians hooker Tevita Ikanivere's rugby journey has been one of commitment, strength and resilience.
The 22-year-old is one of the youngest players in the Flying Fijians squad for the Autumn Nations Cup.
Mesulame Dolokoto and Sam Matavesi are the other hookers in the squad.
[Flying Fijians and Suva hooker Tevita Ikanivere. - Source: Fijivillage]
He is from Nukuni in Ono-i-Lau.
Ikanivere never played Kaji rugby and instead developed an interest and talent for hockey when he was at Holy Trinity Anglican School.
He started playing rugby in 2014 at Queen Victoria School in their famous Super 4 Rugby Competition and eventually went on to represent the school in the Deans Trophy Competition.
While at QVS, Ikanivere took part in the Coca-Cola Games and won gold in 2017 in the Intermediate Boys Discus.
[Flying Fijians hooker Tevita Ikanivere (middle) winning gold in the Inter Boys Discus in the 2017 Coca-Cola Games. Source: Fijivillage]
After finishing secondary school, Ikanivere was included in the FRU High-Performance Unit Academy where he crafted his skills as a hooker.
He then played for the Fiji Under 20 rugby team in the Junior World Trophy in Romania in 2018.
He was the FRU Under 20 Player of the Year in 2019.
Apart from the Flying Fijians, Ikanivere has played for the Fijian Warriors, Fijian Drua and Fijian Latui.
He currently plays for the Suva rugby team.
Fiji's first match in the Autumn Nations Cup is against France on 15th November, then they will face Italy on the 21st of November, and will play Scotland on the 28th of November.
