Sam Matavesi

When Sam Matavesi signed up for the Navy at 24, rugby seemed part of his past. But a twist of fate took him from the deck to the world’s biggest rugby stage, reinvented, reunited with his brother, and even sharing the dressing room with Antoine Dupont. In the end, the Navy didn’t end his dream, it made it possible.

With his brother Josh flying for Ospreys and Fiji, Sam Matavesi had every reason to feel left behind. He had worn the Fijian jersey three times in 2013 as a number eight, but since then had drifted from view, plying his trade in English rugby’s fourth tier with Redruth, far from the bright lights of the arenas Josh was starring in.

For many younger brothers, that distance might have bred resentment or regret. But in true Matavesi fashion, Sam refused to let bitterness take root. Instead, with the quiet resilience and optimism that would come to define him, he found motivation where others might have found despair.

“When I joined the Navy,” Sam remembers, “Josh was playing for Fiji and had just signed a contract to play in the Premiership with Newcastle. He was definitely my hero, my beacon of hope.

“There was never any jealousy or anything like that, just pure admiration for what my brother was doing…plus I got some decent kit from his career.

“When I joined, I was playing in the back row for Redruth who were in National Two at the time, but I had given up any hopes of playing rugby professionally.”

With full support from his brother, in the Navy Sam thought he would find some much needed stability at a crucial time. “I joined up when I was 24, in 2017. At this point my wife and I had a baby, and in my second week of training we had our second baby, so it was a slightly manic time as you can imagine.

“For me, rugby wasn’t really working, and I needed a career to be able to provide for my family. I did my phase one and two training, and I was posted to Culdrose where I worked in the stores, sorting out all the equipment and parts that aircrafts and squadrons had to have in order to fly.”

At Culdrose, which is home to naval aviation primed for warfare like AgustaWestland Merlin HM2 helicopters and BAe Hawk T1 jets, Sam found work he enjoyed and a valuable source of income for his young family. He also found a culture which resonated with him, one based on egalitarianism and equality.

“What struck me about the class I trained with is that people came from all walks of life. I find that people have a real misconception about the type of people that join the military, because truthfully, you can’t pin a label on it. The aim of my training class was to turn sixty civilians into sailors, and that was the only aim. It’s a great equaliser and we all bonded because of it.”

What the Navy also gave Sam was the opportunity to play rugby on a bigger stage and speaking to him these days, his respect for military rugby shines through above all else. That is perhaps unsurprising for someone who made his Army v Navy debut in 2017, aged 24, in front of 82,000 fans at Twickenham on the centenary of the fixture.

“There are people playing in that Army v Navy game who play at the very top level, and they say there’s nothing like it,” he says. “The crowd, the intensity of the rivalry, it can’t be replicated anywhere else and I promise you that the culture in the Navy rugby team is as good, if not better, than any team that I’ve been.

“This is mostly because of the togetherness and the fact that everyone’s quite like minded, you’re constantly laughing and working hard. It’s a culture built on respect, and at the end of the day, we’re sailors who get a three-month window where you get to act like a top rugby player, which is incredible.”

Sam has played in some modern classic Army v Navy games, from the 35-27 Army victory in 2022 to the 39-22 Navy win the following year, their first win since 2010.

But the Sam Matavesi who played in 2023 was very different to the number 8 who had lost his way with rugby in 2017.

“I was a few months into work when I got a phone call from Alan Paver, who was the head coach at Cornish Pirates,” he recalls. “He said ‘Sam, we’re really short of a hooker, could you come and help us out?’

“I laughed and I said ‘firstly I’m at Redruth, secondly I’m working in the Navy, and thirdly I’m not a hooker.’ But he said they were desperate, and I spoke to my bosses who were both Cornish and rugby mad, and they let me play.”

What followed was a period of transition to life at Cornish Pirates. His lineouts were terrible, Sam admits, but a period of unadulterated success playing in his new position soon began to develop. His Navy bosses allowed to train twice a week and play on the weekends, and he played every game after signing in December 2017 to help Cornish Pirates to a fourth place finish in the Championship.

“As if that wasn’t weird enough already,” Sam says, laughing as he recounts this incredible period of his life, “John McKee, who was Fiji head coach at the time, was spending a bit of time down in Cornwall. He was there on a ‘passion development tour’ I think he called it, and he came to Pirates, where Alan Paver said I was worth looking at for the Fiji squad.

“I was picked for the 2018 tour, and I spent a few days in complete disbelief. We played Scotland, Uruguay, and France at the Stade de France, where we won 21-14.

“The Friday after that game, I’m getting ready to play the RAF at Harlequins on the weekend, and I get a phone call telling me that Toulouse are interested in me. That turned out to be genuine, and I went from wanting to give up rugby to sharing a changing room with Cheslin Kolbe and Antoine Dupont.”

Sam played just three times for Toulouse, who, with his assistance, ended up winning the Top 14 in 2019. He was back working at Culdrose for three months, before fulfilling his ultimate rugby dream as he travelled with his brother to Japan to play in a World Cup for Fiji. But, even in this rugby dreamland, he was still receiving calls reminding him of his duties at home, as Culdrose notified him of his overdue fitness test.

After the World Cup, Sam joined Northampton Saints, making eighty appearances and becoming the first male serving military player to win the English Premiership. Spells at Lyon and a return to Camborne followed, along with the chance to coach Navy Rugby at under-23 level, an opportunity he eagerly embraced as a way to give back to the service that had given him so much.

“Now that I’m sort of at the end of rugby, having my Navy career to fall back on is important to me, and I’m so happy to get the chance to coach,” he says. “It’s also quite nice to be on the coaching end of the process. I was so used to playing, but now I can focus on driving the standard at training, which has always been my biggest strength.

“Parts of it take some getting used to though, on game day I find myself thinking, ‘How do I stand? How do I watch the game? Should I be making notes?’ It’s quite a fascinating thing.”

Sam is preparing his under-23 side for their upcoming clash with the RAF, part of the military’s Remembrance fixture series. Featuring some of the brightest emerging talents in military rugby, this match marks the opening round of the under-23 Inter-Service Championship. It will take place at Stourbridge RFC on Wednesday, 12 November, with free admission for all spectators.

Although the Navy and RAF share a close and respectful camaraderie, Sam insists that the rivalry between the two services burns just as fiercely at under-23 level as it does among the senior sides.

“The rivalry between services feels exactly the same at the under 23’s level, which is fantastic. Super hard tackles, little scraps, it’s just passionate, proper rugby.

“The Navy have won the inter-services in the ‘23s for the last couple years, and so this one against the RAF is so important, as we need to beat them and the army to retain our title.

“The remembrance side is the most important aspect of this game coming up though. We tend to get a speaker in to talk to the lads, it could be someone who has won the Military Cross or has had more experience in the services, to remember the people that have ultimately made the biggest sacrifice.”

Come and see the next generation of military rugby stars play at Stourbridge RFC on 12th November 2025 as the RAF under 23’s take on the Navy under 23’s. Free entry for all. Click here for more information.

This article was brought to you in partnership with Vodafone, Principal Partner of UKAF. #TheNationsNetwork