DUBAI // Having claimed the Emirates International Trophy in 2012, Samoa’s players know what it is like to win in Dubai. Only one of their squad knows what it feels like to win in Sharjah, too, though.
It might seem odd, but one of Samoa’s numbers used to call the playing fields of the UAE home.
Danny Tusitala has been handed a world series debut at this weekend's Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens, five years after spending eight months in Dubai playing club rugby.
“It is something special for me to come back here,” Tusitala said.
“I was an 18 year old then, now I’m 24 and to be able to debut on the series here in Dubai, in front of friends and family, I couldn’t have asked for more. Things are really starting to happen for me, so I am feeling blessed right now.”
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Life has changed much in the intervening time. Back then, he was a teenager fresh out of Jonah Lomu’s old school.
He returns to Dubai a married man, with a daughter set to turn two next month, and a son due in April.
The rugby is different, too. This weekend he will be stepping out in front of 45,000 supporters on Pitch 1 at the start of a world series that culminates in rugby’s return to the Olympics.
Back in 2010, there were far fewer spectators when his Toa Dubai side won the Sharjah 10s. He did have a gilded teammate that day, though, as Christian Cullen was making a guest appearance for Toa.
“I was lucky enough to run alongside one of the All Black greats,” Tusitala said.
“That was one of my first experiences in Dubai, playing alongside Christian. That is one of my top memories in my rugby career, running alongside that guy here.”
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Tusitala says he is nervous ahead of his international debut this weekend, but he is comforted by the fact that it will be in front of friends and family in a place he knows well.
“I learnt quite a bit, being an 18 year old chucked out into the big world,” he said.
“I learnt a lot about being independent. Back at home in New Zealand, you depend a lot on your family and friends, but here in Dubai I really had to grow up fast.
“Learning the hard way was good. I guess I wouldn’t know what I know now and wouldn’t have become the man I am today.
“I think a lot about my time in Dubai, and I try to apply it to my life. It has been five or six years, and I am so glad to be back.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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