Josua Tuisova told seven-year-old son had died hours before Georgia game

It has emerged that Fiji centre Josua Tuisova played their recent Rugby World Cup game against Georgia just hours after being told his son had passed away.

The Fijian star’s son sadly died after a long-term illness, aged seven years old.

The powerful centre somehow managed to play through the obvious emotion against Georgia in a game that the Pacific Island side won 17-12 in Bordeaux.

Tuisova was in action for 79 minutes of the come-from-behind win over the Lelos before he was yellow carded for a high tackle, thus ending his afternoon.

Stays in France

It has been confirmed by Tuisova’s father, Isikeli Ratulevu, in a report on Fiji Village, that Tuisova is set to remain in France and misses Tuesday’s funeral.

Fiji‘s final pool match of the Rugby World Cup sees them tackle Portugal in Toulouse this Sunday as they require one point to seal a spot in the quarters.

Should they claim that point, they would dump the Wallabies out at the pool stages for the first time in their history.

Tuisova and Fiji are likely to take on England in the knockout stages, a team they saw off 30-22 at Twickenham in the lead-up to this World Cup tournament.

Central role

Tuisova did not feature in that historic victory but has turned out in all of Fiji’s pool matches thus far, starting at inside centre in two of the three fixtures.

No doubt the squad will be rallying around him this week in what are awful circumstances, with Sunday set to be another emotional match for the player.

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