Waisea Nayacalevu of Fiji leads his teammates as players of of Fiji perform the Cibi prior to the Rugby World Cup France 2023 match between Australia and Fiji at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard on September 17, 2023 in Saint-Etienne, France. Photo: World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images
The Flying Fijians centre Waisea Nayacalevu has dropped bombshell claims about the internal functioning of Fiji Rugby Union (FRU), including the team almost boycotting last year's Rugby World Cup quarterfinal match against England because they weren't paid what was "promised" to them by the union.
In a tell-all interview with the Daily Mail's rugby correspondent Nick Simon, Nayacalevu confirmed what has been a long-held view in Fiji about financial management and player welfare concerns at Rugby House in Suva.
The 34-year-old, who has over 40-caps in the white jersey, told the Daily Mail that corruption was rife within FRU, likening it to a "virus" that needed to be "cut off" for things to improve.
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"We've never said this in public, but it's time for it to go out," Nayacalevu was quoted as saying in the Daily Mail's report.
"We need to cut off this virus that has always been there.
"There's corruption in the Fiji rugby house. We weren't going to play the match against England, we were going to walk out. They promised us things and we didn't get it. We were promised a bonus.
"We were staying in Marseille and I organised a presentation, a Zoom call, I organised everything, to talk about what they had promised us. We gave them a date and said, 'If you don't pay by this day, nobody is going to play this quarter-final'."
According to the report, senior players included Semi Radradra, Levani Botia, Albert Tuisue and Eroni Mawi.
Nayacalevu, who has been playing for Fiji for the past decade, said that was not the first time they had encountered the same issue and they only agreed to stay and play against England when they received their payments.
"I've played for Fiji for more than 10 years and it's the same thing over and over again," he said.
"'It's not the first time…boys getting half-paid, boys not getting paid for weeks. We were paid on the Thursday before the England match. It was close. It distracted our focus."
The robust centre reckons the Flying Fijians can win the World Cup, but things needs to be done professionally for the team.
"If we didn't have corruption, if we had professional people in charge, then Fiji would be better," he said.
"It's not fair, but you have to go in there and fix it."
The player, who started his rugby career with the Uprising Resort sevens rugby team in Deuba and rose to stardom with the Fijian sevens team, said the disruption affected their focus against England, where they eventually lost the game.
And he has called on players to stand up and speak out when they need to, if things are not done for them.
"Fiji has the potential to win the World Cup, that was our mindset last year," he said.
"We were frustrated after the England match because we were building phases, but there were hands in every ruck, blocking the ball. We're not playing with closed eyes.
"This is probably my last year with Fiji and I told the team, 'Boys, when I'm gone from here I hope you guys learn from this… when things happen in the future I hope you have the balls to put it in their face'."
Nayacalevu is one of the senior players who have missed out of the current Flying Fijians schedule because of club commitments.
He led Fiji against the All Blacks in San Diego in July before returning to London for the start of the new English Rugby season.
He has just moved to Sale with his family, after spending the last 10 years in Paris.
RNZ Pacific has reached out to Peter Mazey, the FRU Interim Board chairman, and chief executive officer Rovereto Nayaclevu, for their response to Nayacalevu's revelation and claims.
RNZ Pacific reported a similar situation in 2023, when the Fijiana women's rugby team raised concerns about the late payments of their allowances.
The FRU admitted the issue before paying the players off.
At the same time, the Fijiana Drua rugby team had to rely on Australia-based Fijians to support them when they played a number of their Super W rugby games there.
The FRU admitted then they had some "cash flow" challenges.
The issues became part of the review and system upgrade by the Interim FRU Board put in place by the Fijian government and World Rugby last year.