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Mako and Billy Vunipola have already become players of Tongan heritage to reach the highest level of English rugby and now another young man with Pacific Island blood hopes to reach the top.
Greg Fisilau, 20, is making waves with Exeter Chiefs after moving to Sandy Park following the demise of Wasps.
Fisilau’s father Keni, a former Plymouth Albion center and Tonga international, grew up alongside Fe’ao Vunipola, whose children are Mako and Billy.
Fisilau, a number 8 like Billy, now hopes to one day follow in his footsteps. The two are not direct relatives but acquaintances who refer to each other as family.
“They’re not actually cousins, but that’s what we call them in Tongan culture, they’re just people you grow up with,” says Fisilau, speaking to The Mail on Sunday for his first major newspaper interview.
Greg Fisilau draws inspiration from Vunipola brothers as he contemplates an England call-up
‘I also grew up with Manu Vunipola and Carwyn Tuipulotu. We were all pretty close. He was pretty young growing up with Billy and Mako.
There was also Taulupe Faletau. They were in the place I am now when I was a kid. It was great to have them to look up to.
“It’s really good for me to have seen players like Billy, Mako and Taulupe do as well as them. It shows young Tongan players coming up through the ranks that it can be achieved.
‘It makes you want to push yourself to the level they are at. Filling Billy’s boots is a big enough challenge for anyone.
“It would be quite surreal if that happened to me. Playing for England will always be something that most young players will strive for.”
As England look to the future and begin planning for the next four-year cycle, national coach Steve Borthwick has a wealth of young talent to choose from.
Billy Vunipola, 31, is not done yet and Borthwick watched Ben Earl impress in the back row as England finished third against the odds in this year’s World Cup.
But Fisilau and Alfie Barbeary, who is a standout for Bath this season, are the next generation of No 8s to rise through the ranks.
The 20-year-old has made an explosive start to his senior career since joining Exeter last year.
Fisilau was supreme as a young Exeter side claimed a famous Champions Cup victory in Toulon last Saturday and face Munster today as Rob Baxter’s men look for back-to-back wins.
Fisilau’s trip to today’s game won’t take long. The five-minute walk to Sandy Park from their hotel accommodation at the ground site was an unintended consequence of their last-minute move from Wasps after they went into administration in 2022.
‘It’s the shortest trip ever!’ says Fisilau. ‘The hotel is a nice place, we have rooms with private bathrooms! The kitchen is quite busy because we only have one stove.
‘We have to plan when to cook, but it was worse in Wasps. We were in a large mansion: a 14-room house. We had two washing machines, a stove and a dryer between 14 boys. It was a massacre!
“The kitchen was not clean for more than half an hour. You would go down to do the laundry and there would always be someone else using the machines.
Fisilau is small compared to some of the giant No 8s, such as Billy Vunipola, who roam the rugby fields at the highest level of the game in 2023. But boy does he make a big impact.
Fisilau grew up alongside Billy and Mako Vunipola and affectionately refers to the pair as “cousins.”
He is agile and adept at breakdowns and is a fearsome carrier for his size. Exeter fans have already seen him in action this season.
Born in Plymouth, Fisilau moved to Oxford as a youngster and his rugby development properly began at the city’s St Edward’s School and then with Wasps.
His father allowed him to start playing rugby only from the age of eight, as he believed that playing touch rugby as a young child would teach him bad habits.
The Fisilau family have always loved the contact element of the sport and their latest product was developing well in the Wasps first team.
Then, as for many of his contemporaries in English rugby, it all fell apart.
Fisilau lost his job as Wasps followed Worcester into financial oblivion, but he and teammates Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Alfie Bell and Dan Frost were soon signed by Exeter.
The move happened quickly, hence the emergency accommodation in a hotel. Fisilau is still there.
The number 8 was one of several Wasps stars acquired by the Chiefs when the club went into administration.
“It was difficult for a lot of the boys and also for me as I had been at Wasps from under-15 to 18 or 19,” Fisilau says. “It was really heartbreaking to know that the dreams I had of playing for Wasps would never happen again.
‘My father was a big influence on my career, probably the biggest. He has pressured me at times when he didn’t want to.
“I was always surrounded by rugby. It was all he really knew. I was training a lot with my dad as soon as I could crawl.
“When it came time to get involved with a team, I really wanted to get started as quickly as possible.”
Fisilau has never looked back. His no-nonsense father still refers to him as “Gregory.” Fisilau shrugged off a ‘freak’ foot injury suffered in the gym this year to return for the start of Exeter’s European campaign and is part of a young Chiefs squad.
Already capped by England U20s, a Six Nations call-up next month could come too soon for Fisilau, but there is no doubting his potential.
“I feel lucky to have joined Exeter at this time,” says Fisilau, whose uncle, Samisoni, played for Tonga at the 2015 World Cup. ‘There are endless possibilities of what we can achieve.
“Every day there is a lot of enthusiasm training. Everyone wants to learn. I feel really grateful to be a part of the journey we are on. We have had a good start to the season.
‘Rob has said it a lot. It is a group of young people who believe in everything they tell us. We want to get something out of this season and we are putting everything into it. “We are starting to see results.”