Camborne captain Matavesi set to become club's first major international in over 70 years

Sam Matavesi, captain of Cornish club Camborne, is set to become the first player from the club to earn a senior international cap for a major rugby nation in more than 70 years after being named in Fiji’s squad for the inaugural Nations Championship.

The 34-year-old hooker is one of three in the 32-man group selected by interim head coach Senirusi Seruvakula. Fiji face Wales, England and Scotland on consecutive Saturdays in July, and Matavesi — who already holds 35 caps — is expected to feature prominently across the series.

Should he add to that tally, Matavesi will end a wait stretching back to 1952, when Phillip John Collins won three caps at full-back for England. Collins, now 98 and England’s oldest surviving international player, made his debut in a 19-3 Calcutta Cup victory over Scotland before appearing in further wins over Ireland and France in the same championship.

Matavesi joined his hometown club Camborne in the summer of 2025 following his most recent Fiji appearance against Scotland, and led them to the National 2 West title playing alongside his brother Josh. Their promotion to National One — English rugby’s third tier — has since been followed by the arrival of a third Matavesi brother, Joel, recruited from French Nationale 1 side Bourg-en-Bresse.

The brothers grew up in Camborne as sons of a Fijian father and a Cornish mother before pursuing professional careers across the UK and overseas. Camborne President Terry Williams described the prospect of a capped international representing the club as unexpected as it is welcome.

“It would be the first for 70-odd years,” Williams said. “I know we have been gradually moving up the leagues the last few years but we still don’t expect really to have a full international playing for us. It’s outstanding.”

Williams also highlighted the depth of Matavesi’s commitment to the club during his time back in Cornwall. “Sam played in the last two World Cups for Fiji and he’d get back into this country on a Tuesday, would rock up for training on the Thursday and then coach the minis and juniors on the Sunday. That’s the level of commitment.”

The Nations Championship fixtures in July will determine whether Matavesi writes himself into Camborne’s history books alongside a man who played his last international more than seven decades ago.