Warrington’s Rodrick Tai aims to be Wembley wonder – after ‘primitive’ rugby
RODRICK Tai is ready to Kuk up more new experiences as life on the other side of the world takes him to Wembley.
Just having running water has been enough as his home village in Papua New Guinea does not have it.
Being able to head home after training and games is another after spending an entire season in camp in his homeland.
So is seeing unhappy supporters when he does something good – for on the Pacific island people do not back sides, they just love rugby league.
“Life here is very different,” said Tai, whose home village of Kuk is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its significance to agriculture, with evidence of drainage systems dating back 9,000 years.
“There’s no running water there – we just collect water from the rain - and they only installed electricity about a year ago.
“Not many people live in Kuk – 300 or 400 and it’s mainly my family. All we did was farming, planting food and selling it.
“Everything is different here, but it’s actually nice. I expected to come here and just see big cities but where I’m based, life’s simple and calm.”
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Tai is establishing himself as a first choice centre at Warrington after joining from the PNG Hunters Queensland Cup side.
The 25-year-old is quietly going about his work – he quietly goes about almost everything – after adjusting to full-time life.
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And he is loving the ability to leave his job at his front door after being unable to in his homeland as all the players lived together.
“It’s a big change here,” Tai added. “I’m used to being in camp and staying with the boys. Here, you get to stay at home and come to training.
“We’d all stay in a camp, go to training, come back and sleep together for the whole season. You can get a bit sick of seeing the same walls.
“I like the change as I get to spend time with my family and I’m starting to get used to it. I’m seeing a lot of positives from it.
“And I came from a primitive style of rugby league but the coaches and players here have tried to teach me as much as they can.
“In PNG, we don’t have things like junior systems to bring players through – we just start playing for teams aged about 17 or 18.
“It’s really just a case of turning up and playing. Unless you’re selected in the national squad, local games are nowhere near here.
“And I never expected anything like Wembley – I only looked it up online after we got there! The atmosphere will be different than back home too.
“There’s no rivalry, they just love watching rugby league and want to see us play – when teams score, everyone celebrates.”
Tai, cleared to face Wigan at Wembley after sweating on a disciplinary charge for a high shot in Saturday’s Super League clash between the sides, has more motivation to add his name to the list of Challenge Cup winners from PNG.
About an hour-and-a-half from where he is from, a natural disaster saw more than 600 people killed by a huge landslide.
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“I lived in that area for a year,” he told SunSport. “In the Highlands region, where I’m from, when half the mountain comes down, it’s hard to prevent it in the villages alongside.
“Even though it’s not affected my family, it has affected my countrymen and being abroad, it’s sad to see stories like that.”