Acura Sabaria Niuqila

Acura Niuqila was an extremely fast and elusive fly half cum winger who represented Fiji before he became a Wallaby. From 1983 to 1986 Niuqila played 15 Tests for his homeland, three of which were against Australia (1984 - Suva, 1985 - Brisbane and 1985 - Sydney [2]).

In 1985 Niuqila moved to Australia where he joined Randwick and established himself as a prolific try scorer however it was not until 1988 that he won representative honours. While Niuqila made his debut for New South Wales against Queensland at Concord Oval it was his next match a month later, the 23-12 defeat of England, where he starred. That performance earned Niuqila selection on the end-of-season Wallaby tour to the U.K. and Italy where he made his Test debut against Scotland at Murrayfield.

In 1989 Niuqila played three matches against the British Lions, including the emphatic 30-12 first Test victory in Sydney, however he was then not selected for either of the final two internationals.

Acura Niuqila played three Tests for Australia in a two-year Wallaby career.

Highlights

1988

Represented Australia at the Hong Kong 7s. Niuqila won his first Test cap as the run-on XV right winger in the 32-13 victory over Scotland in Edinburgh. Two weeks later he retained his spot and scored three tries, described by a press review of the match, as “pure magic”, in the 55-6 defeat of Italy in Roma.

1989

Represented Australia at the Hong Kong 7s. Niuqila earned his final cap in the 1st Test, 30-12 win against the British Lions in Sydney.