From Wallis-et-Futuna to Grenoble to the fifteenth of France, the story of Manae Feleu

When you first meet Nessie Filiu (pronounced “Nessie Filiu”), Mane’s father, you immediately think you should make a great former rugby player. Square jaw, buffalo torso, tattoos all over, broad shoulders, the futon looks at you from his ninety meter high. We immediately imagine a third line, as hard as a rock, that appeared to his opponents through assisted interventions. And we understand better why his beloved daughter is doing the same today at Elite 1 and at Team France. However, it is not: “I’ve never been so rugby, Calls Pacific Goths. I did a lot of athletics. Decathlon specifically and even played in National 2 in volleyball. My wife was practicing the sevens, we met in Ureps (former name of UFR Staps today) Dijon. “We wanted to do a lot of sports at the same time! “ Valerie, a petite woman with curly blonde hair and a Polynesian mirror wardrobe wife continues opposite us: “Going to a field just to run is too little for me!” Shouted. From their union were born four adorable (or adorable, it depends) little kids: Niue, the older brother who today plays Federal 1 in Nuits-Saint-Georges, Manae, and Teani who plays with his older sister at Elite 1 in Grenoble, and Asia, 10 years old. Then the rugby ended up coming to Nessie: “I went to the World Cup in 1991. A Samoan friend introduced me to it. I played No. 7, but only for two or three years. I “played,” let’s say…”

“Boys don’t want to interfere, I liked it”

If a rugby player isn’t as great as his looks suggest, Nisie Feleu on the other hand has been a major player in the development of rugby at Futuna: “With my wife, we were the only physical education teachers on the island. And we decided, like that, to introduce rugby to middle school from sixth to third grade. Then I set up three clubs so that I could play matches and Didier Ritier, whom I knew at Oribe, helped me. In Dijon, a lot on a managerial level.I’ve also patented a rugby country to train myself. Niue and Tinney were the first to join the club that my father founded “Aveli Rugby” (now called Onelike Rugby Club). Manae practiced other sports: “I did athletics, volleyball and karate. But I felt a little lonely, so I followed my brother and sister. And here is love at first sight: “Once I tried rugby, I loved it. Special tackle. I didn’t quite understand the attack, so I left it to the boys. That’s what they liked, and they didn’t want to tackle. It suited me! I found it easy to bring people down, I liked it.” “Thanks to volleyball, she had good handling of the ball but all she loves is interference, captures his father. She wasn’t interested in getting the ball, she just wanted to defend! “

The little brunette hands out her shows every weekend, amidst a few other kids making the climax of French rugby today: “Since there weren’t many of us, there were 7 of us. Every Saturday we had tournaments and twice a year we went to Wallis to play the big tournament called ‘Le petit motu’. That’s where I played with Yoram Moefana, we won that tournament. In less than 11. They got me to play 9, which is 10, we shaped the hinge, it was so funny. There was also Sebele Flatty, but he was a little bit older than us.”

From Havelock North to… Dijon

A fierce competitor, Nisie quickly realizes that the local tournaments will not be enough to advance his flock: “To get high, we had to get off our island. We went to New Caledonia, then to New Zealand. And there we saw the difference, we learned a lot. Here, I met a lot of people, exchanged with them, they came to see us, we even won some matches here.

The New Zealand connection was made. In the aftermath, Akbar Niue decided to conduct a school exchange with a New Zealand institution in Havelock North, a small town of 15,000 people located on the east coast of the North Island, just below Napier. Pinning his brother, Manae has a new like: “When I visited his institution, I wanted to do the same. I liked everything: the sports every day, the boarding school with houses competing with each other, like in Harry Potter, the uniform, the choice of subjects … Then I wanted to become a language teacher English, so that allowed me to become bilingual.”

At the time, Mane was only 14 years old, and rugby was not yet one of his priorities. But he gains ground: “It was really there that I discovered rugby union. I was put in the middle and then in the back because I was able to defend the big spaces. He became so a few years later when he returned to France, to Dijon, his mother’s home, to attend the medical school there. Despite the first failure, the student persisted and decided to resume rugby, which she temporarily left to study and recover from a ruptured cruciate ligament in the knee. She joins Gazelles de Dijon who plays at Federal 1, only plays home games for her review and is still seen by the federal sector, which invites her to join the under-20s for a two-week training.:”There, I told myself that opportunity would not present itself twice. Everything went well. I played last year in Dijon by joining Pôle France and then they advised me to go play Elite 1. I hesitated between Lyon and Grenoble, and chose Grenoble.

“I feel at home here”

Manae Feleu now develops with the Amazons of Grenoble and her sister, Teani, with whom she lives with a roommate. She is also in her fourth year in medicine, and wants to become a sports doctor: “For us the most important thing is studies, His father insists. But I’m glad she knows the high level. I would like to live it. In my time, there was Plaziat and Blondel in Decathlon, they were unbeatable. Tell her what she’s going through is exceptional. She complained about not playing enough against South Africa. I answered him:Do you know how many players would like to be in your shoes? I am a teacher first and foremost. I don’t want to tell young people that sport will guarantee them a future. The injury happened very quickly… but you have to live it to the fullest.” Her father follows her development closely, but lets his daughter find her way: “From the moment I left the house, I no longer interfere in rugby. I never told her because she didn’t ask me, but I think she could be more aggressive. She was more than before, throwing herself at her opponents. Now I find it very thoughtful… Oh yeah, you gotta go there! “ He scolds the photon and also invites him to take his time:When she told me she wanted to participate in the World Cup, I told her she had time. You have to go through stages. She’s only been playing in Grenoble for two years, and she’s made quite a few selections. If you don’t, it doesn’t matter.”

But it is located in New Zealand. A country that necessarily holds a special place in its heart: “I have relationships here. Boarding school makes lifelong friendships. This World Cup is especially for me, I haven’t had the chance yet to come back. I feel at home here, like going back to basics.” However, she returned with the French national team dress. Not bad for a player who has taken rugby so long to become a priority: “I find it hard to realize what is happening to me. When I was in high school, Kendra Coxedge (Half Black Fern to 64 Picks and Four World Cups, Ed.) He came to talk to us. I liked her…I told myself I wanted to be like her. Today, I find myself in the same hotel as you, playing for France. I never thought I would come to this. Now rugby has become a passion.” A passion born in the Pacific…