The footballing Fiji wing outscoring Bielle-Biarrey and zeroing in on England

"I was a striker - a good header, like Harry Kane!"

Fiji wing Jiuta Wainiqolo is remembering his days trying out for his country's under-20 football team.

The 27-year-old is now focused on the oval ball. But this season, he has had a strike-rate to match the prolific Bayern Munich forward, who is spearheading England's round-ball World Cup bid.

Wainiqolo finished the season head and shoulders above the rest in the Top 14 try-scoring standings.

Louis Bielle-Biarrey was his nearest rival. The France whizz had 13 tries for European champions Bordeaux Begles.

Playing for Lyon at the other end of the French top flight, however, Wainqolo crossed 18 times in 20 games, producing a showreel of swerving, stepping, scorching scores., external

At Test level, he was the creator of one of the tries of 2025, gathering a bobbling, backward ball deep in his own half and slicing past four Australia defenders,, external before lobbing a pass for the supporting Lekima Tagitagivalu to trundle in.

Wainiqolo is arguably the most exciting wing in the world.

And, on Saturday, in the hours before Kane and company take on Norway in a World Cup quarter-final, he will attempt to dazzle England with some of that magic on the rugby pitch.

"We watched a bit of England's game against South Africa and South Africa are world number one, so they're physical, but I think we are more physical than South Africa," he says.

"We'll fix everything that we lacked in the last game [the 39-24 defeat by Wales].

"We will balance it out and be a bit more physical because that's what South Africa did with England."

Wainqolo, 6ft 2in and 15st 4lb, puts some of his own power, pace and evasiveness down to the footballing drills he still leans on.

"I played football in school and then was blessed to get picked for Fiji's under-20s squad," he remembers.

"I was training with players who are now representing Fiji [at senior level], some of them are playing for clubs in New Zealand and Australia.

"I love the agility training we did - I still do it now, it is so good. It helps my ankles, legs, changing direction, sidesteps, I love it."

Perhaps the most important muscle is mindset, however.

Knowing that the Olympic Sevens stage would be a prominent platform to earn a lucrative overseas contract, a 22-year-old Wainiqolo, playing domestically in Fiji and not part of the top-tier Sevens circuit, forced his way into the country's 12-strong all-star squad for Tokyo 2021.

A Covid-affected build-up turned a one-week training camp turn into four months away from their families for Fiji's players as they locked down and knuckled down on their title defence.

In Japan, Wainiqolo was the team's top try-scorer, crossing five times in their gold-winning campaign.

The move he wanted arrived. French giants Toulon signed him up.

But, at the end of the 2024-25 season, Wainiqolo felt that, with league rules encouraging Top 14 clubs to favour home-grown talent, he was falling behind the team's French wings Gabin Villiere and Gael Drean.

He switched to Lyon and duly lit up the league.

"At Lyon there is no Jiff [Joueurs Issus des Filières de Formation - the stipulation over quotas of homegrown players] problem, I get to play every match," says Wainiqolo.

"I was just so happy. I don't worry about the stats and the tries. I'm just enjoying playing. I love this game."

At Toulon, Wainiqolo had a clutch of English team-mates, with Kyle Sinckler, David Ribbans and Lewis Ludlam on the books.

At Lyon, there is just one. But Sam Simmonds' own pace and determination has impressed Wainiqolo, even if the former Exeter man's hairline hasn't.

"He's a great player, he's so fast, so explosive - he's faster than the Curry brothers.

"To be the captain for Lyon, as a foreigner, it's so hard in the Top 14. He's a great leader, a great team-mate, I love hanging out with him, but he is bald now!"

Wainqolo says he may drop Simmonds a message in the build-up to Saturday's game for any inside knowledge on England, but he knows there is enough nous in his own group to get the job done.

Wainiqolo was a non-playing squad member watching on from the Twickenham touchlines when Fiji beat England for the first time in August 2023.

"We were so, so happy and so excited - that team that played against England, it was a bit physical and direct," he remembers.

England, wobbling after five successive Test defeats, should be prepared for Wainiqolo coming down route one. And fast.