THE world of rugby and in particular the world of Sevens will be the poorer for the loss of Willie Los'e who died suddenly on Wednesday in Cape Town, aged just 55, as he prepared to cover the Rugby World Cup Sevens this weekend.
Willie was a New Zealand-Tongan hybrid, born in Auckland of Tongan parents and a New Zealand Colts (U21) cap at lock before he switched allegiance to Tonga, playing in all three of the 1995 World Cup pool games before retiring from the Test game to pursue his media career.
Although commentating in many areas of the game, he very much became the modern voice of Sevens, a larger than life character and lover of loud T-shirts with an infectious enthusiasm and passion for life that very much captured the essence of a great Sevens tournament. Every day in his company was a good day.
And, although he often gave the impression he had just breezed in after a refreshing swim – he was a fitness fanatic and daily jogger – or a light libation with friends in a quiet bar, he was the ultimate professional.
He did his background prep assiduously and his pronunciation of some of the most complicated tongue twisting names in world rugby was nigh on faultless. There are few more challenging gigs in the commentary world than a full day of Sevens and Willie's commentary played a big part in elevating many tournaments.
