Ready, Steady, Joe - Cokanasiga's rise to England
It will be no surprise if lightning strikes this summer for the Bath winger Joe Cokanasiga.
When Joe Cokanasiga was first brought into the England squad, ahead of the tour to Argentina in 2017, it was more than a slight bolt from the blue from head coach Eddie Jones. Not for the first time Jones had seen something in a player that slipped under the radar of many.
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That was hardly a surprise. Cokanasiga, who was just 19 at the time, had been playing for London Irish in the Championship, and had picked up an injury in the play-offs, but Jones said there were at least two things going for the winger.
“He’s big and he’s fast,” Jones said at the squad announcement. “I don’t care who he plays for – he could be playing for anyone. He’s big, and fast.”
At around 110kg Cokanasiga is big, for sure, and as defences who have conceded seven tries in nine internationals to the Fijian-born winger will attest, he is rapid. It did not take long for lightning to strike on the Test stage when he scored on his debut.
But it has not been an entirely easy road to get to where he is today for Cokanasiga. Born in Suva, in November 1997, he lived in Germany, Brunei and England because of his father’s military service, playing alongside his dad, Ilaitia in Army teams, before deciding rugby was the way to go ahead of his first love, football. Injuries, as with most players, have also hit.
“In Fiji you play rugby every other day in the back yard but it was something I never really took very seriously,” Cokanasiga explains. “It was always football for me. Then we moved to Brunei and I played with my dad as part of the Army regiment. It made me realise I had a talent and when we came to the UK we didn’t really want to waste it.
“I knew Akapusi Qera (the former Gloucester and Fiji back rower), so my dad spoke to him to try and get me into Hartpury but I was too young. I had a trial at London Irish, I was based in Watford, and I was let in when I was 15 or 16.”
Records will show Cokanasiga did not play on that trip to Argentina four years ago. The tour was covered by a small media pack and when we did see the big winger it was only on the training paddock, mostly rehabbing his sore hamstring. But it was experience in the bank for Cokanasiga as he lent on the know-how of the likes of Mike Brown and Jonny May who were senior figures during the 2-0 series win. And it might just be about to pay off as England enter the games against USA and Canada this summer.
“Looking back at it now, it was a big kick up the backside for me to mature on the pitch and off the pitch,” says the now 23-year-old Cokanasiga. “I realised that talent can only get you so far. The training sessions were not easy and it was a big learning curve for me. I came away having to do things to learn and to mature on the pitch.”
That homework paid off in the autumn internationals of 2018 when Jones gave Cokanasiga his first international cap, against Japan at Twickenham. A 69th minute try in a 35-15 win, against a Japanese side who would cause raptures at the following year’s World Cup was enough to get the 81,151 crowd buzzing and the big winger followed it up with another score in the 37-18 win against Australia. Two from two, easy game this international rugby.
By then, Cokanasiga had moved to Bath where he was able to pick the brains of one of the best back three players in the world. The England and British & Irish Lions star Anthony Watson. Watson’s advice was not over-complicated as Cokanasiga recalls.
“He has helped me out massively on and off the pitch. Mostly with the way he trains and the way he preps for training,” he says. “He is one of the most professional players I have ever come across. He knows his game and whenever I need it he is always one of the first people to help.
“He says just get the simple things right – the little bits, like keeping your elbow in with high balls. He is good at focusing on the simple stuff and when it comes to the game it looks pretty easy for him. It is just being confident in yourself, as soon as you doubt yourself that is when you will drop the ball.”
But there were a couple of bumps in the road during the 2019 Six Nations when Cokanasiga came off the bench against Wales and tore up it, from the starting XV, in the 57-14 win over Italy. He was not selected for the final game of the tournament, against Scotland, although he was flavour of the month with the rugby public. Jones however, had a master plan and, as the head coach often does, explained through a metaphor from one of his other sporting passions – cricket.
“When you’re a young batsman and your first Test is against the West Indies in Perth and you bat No 3, you might not get too many runs,” said Jones. “So you pick a Test where they’re playing on a flat track, bat them at six, let them get runs, then you bring them in the next Test and you quietly build them up. I want him to play 100 Tests for England – I don’t want him to just play 10 Tests.”
Cokanasiga was ready to play a few shots as the World Cup in Japan approached, warming up with three tries in the preparation games and then two, in the tournament itself, against the USA in Kobe. He struggled with a knee injury which would keep him out for a over a year – but he has had plenty of game time for Bath recently. The next step is this summer’s series and it will not be a bolt from the blue if he shines again.
Joe Cokanasiga was speaking to Adam Hathaway.
