Ten years, three Australian clubs, one detour to Japan
Isi Naisarani is going back to the country he was born in, and it has taken him a decade of Super Rugby to get there. The former Wallabies number eight has signed with the Fijian Drua for the 2027 season.
His record before this is almost entirely Australian. He arrived at the Western Force as a rookie and played 15 matches in a first season good enough to win him the Nathan Sharpe Medal as the club’s player of the year. No rookie had done that before.
He was not finished with the firsts either. The same campaign brought him the RUPA Medal of Excellence and the Australian Super Rugby Player of the Year award, both won by a rookie for the first time.
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From the Rebels to Wallaby gold
A single season at the ACT Brumbies followed, then a move to the Melbourne Rebels in 2019. That was the year everything opened up. Naisarani made his Wallabies debut against the Springboks in Johannesburg, and Michael Cheika took him to the World Cup in Japan a few months later.
The road since has run through the Shizuoka Blue Revs in Japan and back to the Force. This year he played Shute Shield rugby in New South Wales, made the Code Sports Team of the Year and finished runner-up for the Ken Catchpole Medal, which is not the form line of a player winding down.
Mooar wanted the person as much as the player
“A dynamic powerful and skilful player, he will add a huge amount to our game in attack and in defence,” Drua coach Brad Mooar said. He spent as long on Naisarani’s headspace as his ball-carrying, describing a player who is “happy, fulfilled and hungry to keep getting better”.
Naisarani joins a recruitment run that has been busy. Sam Wye was unveiled on 11 August, Leone Nakarawa and Inoke Ravuiwasa have signed, and Maika Tuitubou and Joji Naosva have both extended.
“My family and I can’t wait to meet and connect with all the fans,” Naisarani said. “Let’s make 2027 a good one.”
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