Player adds new dimension to Crusaders | Canterbury Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Canterbury

Explosive Fiji winger Vilimoni Delasau has replaced his Dad in the Crusaders squad.

"Dad" in this case is the 27-year-old's mentor, Marika Vunibaka, now on his way to Japanese rugby.

Delasau, one of the players to watch in this year's Super 12 although he did not get off the bench in Canberra, said he'd learned a lot from watching Vunibaka play, and Vunibaka's development from a sevens to a 15s player had also encouraged him.

"We are really, really close friends," he said. "When I got into the sevens as a 20-year-old, he was already in the sevens for three years and he was my first room mate."

"I called him dad, and when I first started playing sevens I didn't have any pocket money and had to ask 'dad' to give me some money. He was really good. We became really close friends."

Delasau has already established a reputation as a sevens great, and in the 1999 and 2000 IRB sevens tournaments he scored an eye-popping 82 tries and was named sevens player of the year.

He's also scored eight tries in 17 rugby tests since making his debut against Canada in 2000, and now wants to show he can make the impact in Super 12 he has in sevens.

He signed for the Crusaders after nearly three years with French club Stade Montois and then in Japan last year with Yamaha.

A serious shoulder injury playing for the Barbarians in Britain last May set back his career, but after an operation in August and six months on the sideline he's eager to get on the field again.

"I am trying to really get my game fitness up and I'm really, really keen to get back into playing," he said.

"It was the dream when I started playing rugby that one day I would play Super 12."

Rob Deans first approached Delasau three years ago, and a try in each of his two pre-season matches against the Reds and Waratahs showed what had excited the Crusaders coach.

"After nearly seven months out of rugby, I felt really good coming back into the field and playing and scoring tries," he said.

Delasau, who hasn't played sevens for three years, said he wanted to concentrate on Super 12 after his injury lay-off, although there has been talk he will be called up for the Hong Kong sevens in a fortnight.

His devotion to rugby is matched only by his zeal as a born-again Christian. He mentions his faith as his first strength as a player.

Delasau grew up in a Christian family in Ba, but said he wasn't really a Christian until he received a holy apparition one night in Fiji four years ago and "God spoke to me in my heart that he'll be with me wherever I go."

Delasau credits divine healing for his remarkable recovery to play in the World Cup.

"I broke my leg, my fibula, with the 15s in Argentina one month before the World Cup," he said. "I had the one X ray in Argentina and it showed the fracture.

"All my friends were saying hard luck for you, but I was praying. One of my friends, a pastor, he called me up on the phone and prayed for me on the phone and helped with my faith."

He was sent to Auckland for more X rays and tests, and the fracture was gone, he said. The New Zealand doctor could not believe the results.

Delasau hopes to coach eventually, and to give young players a Christian influence.

Piety is not usually a feature of sports team cultures, but Crusaders fans may have faith and devotion of a different sort rewarded if Delasau fulfils his potential in the Super 12.