Veteran Samo keen to make up for lost time

THERE have been few more intimidating rabbits in the headlights than Radike Samo but Australia’s back-row giant greets his late-blooming success in a Wallabies jersey with something approaching wide-eyed incredulity.

After a career trundling around with no recognition following an early six-cap spell in 2004, Fijian-born Samo, 6ft 6ins in his stockinged feet and almost 7ft when you factor in his afro hairstyle, is finally making an impression aged 35.

First, he tasted Super XV success with the Queensland Reds on his 35th birthday, having been plucked out of the Japanese league just three months earlier. Then he became Australia’s oldest player to appear in the Tri-Nations, notched his first international try with an incredible 50-metre break through the All Blacks defence and, to cap it off, found himself on a flight for his first World Cup.