You hear it all the time in professional sport, the sacrifice that must be made to pursue the dream, the things you have to give up to stay in the game. Just because it’s a cliche doesn’t mean it isn’t true – and the new head coach of the Scotland women’s team, Sione Fukofuka, is living proof of it.
Half-Tongan, half-Kiwi and a proud Australian, Fukofuka was head coach of the Women’s Eagles in America up until last year. He became Bryan Easson’s replacement in December.
When his new team kicks off their Six Nations campaign against Wales in the Principality Stadium on Saturday, his wife and their four sons will be watching at home in Brisbane.
It’ll be 01:40 in the morning, but the game is on pay television and the boys have special dispensation to stay up, if they can manage it.
Elijah, Isaac, Noah and Tobias. Nine, six, four and two. His wife, Tara, and his mum, Judy, have organised a watch party, as Fukofuka calls it.
“It’s tough being apart, but my wife makes it work,” he says of the long distance relationship. “Realistically, she’s the one doing the hard stuff and because of that I’ve been able to put the hours into this role, which has been great.
“I have breakfast and dinner with them online. It’s not perfect by any means, but it’s the way it is.
“When there’s an issue at home, I get a phone call.
“One of the boys rang the other night, just feeling a little bit lost. It’s tough. That’s the nice thing about FaceTime. It’s not the same, but it’s a way to stay connected. My wife is magic. She films as much as she can and I’ll wake up in the morning to a couple of videos. Mom’s great at that, too.”
When he was coaching the Americans (he was the head coach at the World Cup last year) they were in Denver as a family.
“They came with me on that adventure,” he says. “We were there for two years and loved it, but the amount of travel I did in the job was huge and I wasn’t home a lot. Tara was by herself with four boys. There were some great people around us, but it’s not the same as having family. So we made the decision for this role that I would be the one to travel.”
Sacrifices, but no regrets, just a feeling of excitement heading for Wales and then, a week later, playing England at Murrayfield. More than 25,000 tickets have already been sold. New territory.
This is an entirely new coaching regime and a wider Scotland squad with plenty of new faces. Scotland had a decent Six Nations a year ago and a really strong World Cup despite in-camp turmoil around contracts.
The senior operators say the squad is in a better place now, that they feel more valued by Scottish Rugby and that the issues that caused such tremendous upset have largely been dealt with. Fukofuka says this is the closest group of players he’s ever seen.
After learning about what went on before the World Cup he understood more of why there’s such a bond there. Having watched the documentary about Emma Wassell’s extraordinary return to action after undergoing surgery to remove a tumour from her chest in 2024 he got an even greater picture of what these players have been through together. It was an education, he said.