Young Guns: Ealing Trailfinders wing Epi Rokodrava
By BEN JAYCOCK
After being made redundant at Wasps last year, Epi Rokodrava fell off the radar of England U20s but the hefty Ealing Trailfinders Academy wing is hoping to make it back into the fold for next year's Six Nations.
Rokodrava, who has just turned 19, has trained with the U20s setup previously and is hoping that he can be part of the next cycle of players at head coach Mark Mapletoft's disposal.
“For a few months I was off the radar. I've been in contact with the U20s coaches and they're looking for me to hopefully get back in camp soon,” said Rokodrava.
“It would be a great honour to represent England in the Six Nations.”
The wrecking ball wing/ centre is 6ft 3in, 17st 6lbs and is of Fijian heritage.
He grew up watching Fiji's iconic sevens team and idolised Leicester Tigers wingers Nicky Goneva and Nemani Nadolo.
“Watching the Fiji sevens team was how I was introduced to rugby,” he says. “With Nadolo being a big winger and me being quite big, he's someone who I look to play like as I'm definitely more of a powerful winger that likes to run through people rather than running around players.”
Since his move to Ealing in October 2022, Rokodrava has enjoyed the environment and has picked the brains of Wales international Jonah Holmes as well as new signing Billy Twelvetrees.
He said: “It was unfortunate what happened at Wasps but ever since I've joined here it's been good. The boys and the coaches helped me settle in really well and the environment here is good. I have aspirations to play rugby in the highest league as possible, so it's been great to be here.
“As a winger you spend a lot of time in the back three position and I've learnt a lot from Jonah. To be able to pick the brains of someone who's played international rugby is amazing and we've bonded really well. With the likes of Billy coming in he's been great and he's also easy to talk to. He'll help the team and everyone around him massively.”
With Championship clubs participating in the Premiership Cup for the first time next season, Rokodrava is eager to line up against players from the topflight.
“There's a lot of buzz and excitement around the team at the moment with the fixtures for the Prem Cup being released,” said Rokodrava.
“Everyone's raring to go and ripping into training, doing well and trying to put their hand up and foot forward for selection and be involved in such a massive opportunity in the Prem Cup.”
A powerful back with the capabilities to burst through tackles and offload, Rokodrava looks set for a bright future in the game and wants to improve on his kicking game to make him into more of a well-rounded player.
He said: “Not only can I bust through tackles but I pride myself on my offload game, keeping the ball alive. I'll always tell people around me if I've got my hands on the ball, run a support line because I'll somehow manage to get an offload away to you. For someone who's quite heavy, I feel I do a pretty good job of getting in the air and dominating the space with my height advantage.
“Developing my kicking game is vital as it's something they like here at Ealing, so having that other option in case things happen in a game or if I'm required to put boot to ball, is always good to have in the locker.”
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