Lima Sopoaga of Wasps in action during the Premiership match against London Irish at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry on 20 October 2019.
Matthew Lewis/Getty Images
- Lima Sopoaga, an All Black between 2015 and 2017, has opened up about his mental health struggles since arriving at Wasps in England.
- The flyhalf/fullback copped heavy criticism at Wasps and was voted as the worst signing in the Premiership by the UK press.
- However, a shift to No 15 has given him a new lease on life.
Former All Blacks flyhalf Lima Sopoaga has opened up about his mental health struggles since arriving in England where he plays for Wasps.
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Sopoaga has copped flak since arriving in the UK in 2018 where he took over the No 10 jersey from Danny Cipriaini, who moved to Gloucester.
Poor form and a struggling club made the transition difficult and hit him hard personally – Sopoaga was heavily criticised on social media and in the English press, who rated him as the worst signing in the Premiership.
In an interview with RugbyPass, the 29-year-old opened up on his struggles.
“I probably hated the game for a lot of my first year, to be totally honest. I definitely had moments where I thought, ‘I don’t know if I want to continue playing rugby,'” he said.
Sopoaga said his mental health “took a pretty big hit”.
“I was naive, in that I didn’t think moving to the other side of the world would have such an effect on home life and on me personally.
“I just thought I’d come to another country, get a house, get a car, go to training, come home, and enjoy life. You’re trying to work out simple things like which supermarket do I shop at, paying this council tax and this insurance, setting my family up at the doctor. Even in an English-speaking country, that was hard.
“What made it worse were the club not doing well and me not playing well. It just all snowballed, man.”
However, things have improved and before the coronavirus lockdown, Sopoaga was enjoying his rugby again.
A positional switch to fullback has also helped.
“I like the freedom of playing 15. You end up organising the backline and helping out the 10 a lot. Before lockdown I was really enjoying rugby, it was really fun, and I just want to get back to that.”
Sopoaga, who won Super Rugby with the Highlanders in 2015, played 16 Tests for the All Blacks between 2015 and 2017.
– Compiled by Sport24 staff
