Australia will be hoping wing sensation Marika Koroibete can provide the experience,as well as the explosive pace, to give the Wallabies a chance of 2023 World Cup glory.
Name | Ratu Marika Koroibete |
Nation | Australia |
Place of birth | Naraiyawa, Fiji |
Age | 31 |
Club | Saitama Wild Knights |
Position | Wing |
Height | 5ft 11in |
Weight | 96kgs |
International caps | 55 |
International points | 85 |
Marika Koroibete is an international winger for Australia, who swapped from the 13 to 15-man code having previously been capped by Fiji in rugby league.
Koroibete was born on 26th July, 1992 in Naraiyawa, Fiji and brought up on a remote farm.
Koroibete plays in Japan for the Saitama Wild Knights who he has helped to the championship in each of the last two seasons.
Before that he spent four years playing NRL for the Wests Tigers and Melbourne Storm before turning to union in 2017, first with the Rebels and then Melbourne Rising.
Koroibete is a powerful, ball-running winger. When he was a child he considered majoring in sprinting rather than rugby so fast was he, but having bulked up and maintained his electrifying pace he now boasts the perfect assets to be a world-class winger.
David Rennie, the Wallabies' head coach before Eddie Jones took the reins in January, said of Koroibete: "If we kick a ball, he is at full pace chasing, he is concrete when he hits, his work ethic is phenomenal, I haven't seen another winger like it. You have a look at his numbers, they're outrageous."
He is an explosive ball carrier who prefers straight lines to sidesteps, and will basically bulldoze through anyone in his path.
He tackles as hard as he runs which makes him a huge defensive asset, as well.
Marika Koroibete scoring a try for Australia against South Africa in the Rugby Championship in August 2022.
A humble man and a very quiet man you won't see Koroibete's face plastered all over magazine covers – or not by his choice anyway.
He's a dad of four sons whose time away from rugby is spent entertaining them.
One of the most noticeable aspects of Jones' squad summoned to take part in the World Cup in France, is quite how inexperienced it is.
Just eight of Jones' 33-man squad have played at a World Cup before and Koroibete is one of them.
The 5ft 11in flier played in three of the Aussies' four pool games at the 2019 World Cup, scoring two tries, the first against the country of his birth, Fiji.
Then in the quarter-finals the Wallabies were humiliated by England, losing 40-16, though Koroibete was exempt from criticism. He also scored his country's lone try.
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