DJ Forbes – The Big interview
When most people talk of New Zealand’s all-conquering Sevens team, they think of captain DJ Forbes and they think of coach, Gordon Tietjens. The duo may be very different men, but together they have created one of the finest outfits anywhere in the world of sport.
While Tietjens has won 11 of the 14 World Series contested to date, Forbes has been a part of New Zealand’s team since 2005 and has himself won five Series titles, as well as two Commonwealth Games and a Rugby World Cup Sevens.
Last weekend, the men in black were handed their biggest ever defeat, 44-0, by a rampant Fiji in Dubai. Now, though, they have a chance to put things right on South African soil, where Forbes has lifted the Cup for the past four years.
In the run-up to the Cell C Nelson Mandela Bay SA Sevens, round three of the HSBC Sevens World Series, Forbes speaks here about that loss to Fiji in Dubai and the reaction in the changing room; his pride at captaining New Zealand; his start in rugby under the guidance of his late uncle, the great Peter Fatialofa; the team’s culture and his religious belief and the side’s continued success and ‘outrageous’ support in South Africa.
On the 44-0 loss to Fiji: “We didn’t get to play.. Titch (Gordon Tietjens) hit it on the head when he said that they’d played pretty much the perfect game of Sevens…”
On his uncle, Peter Fatialofa: “He was the reason we started to play rugby. I remember playing around in his garage and seeing all the photos with the Ranfurly Shield… To be at his funeral and to see the thousands of people showed what he was about…”
On wanting to follow in his uncle’s footsteps: “I played my first representative rugby for Auckland Samoa and he got me a trial for Manu (Samoa)… I had one crack at it and missed out… He was always looking for a loop hole to see if I could play for Samoa…”
On team culture and fitness: “The bunch of boys we travel with, that’s the closest we’ve got to family here. People may ask what’s so hard about training on a rugby field. (It’s so hard), you almost question whether you want to go on…”
On religion: “A lot of people think there would be hip hop or rough music before we run out but we listen to a worship song… It’s nothing forced, I’m not a bible-basher or a preacher but it’s good to know there’s something we can pray to to give us an extra edge…”
On support for the team in South Africa: “To be so far away from home and have the support we do is outrageous.. I’d hate to be in New Zealand and have New Zealanders cheering for another country, but it’s not purely about rugby and it makes us proud to play for them.”
Courtesy of IRB
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