Giants winger Cokanasiga is ready to have fun in England after becoming ‘more mature’
Giants winger Joe Kokanasiga insists he is now ready for the England jersey after drawing head-to-head comparisons with John Lom.
Cokanasiga was parachuted into Eddie Jones’ plans for the 2019 World Cup after scoring 5 tries in his first six matches.
His highly effective run has drawn comparisons with All Blacks legend Loma, however the teenager has suffered injuries and struggled to make an impact in Japan.
Now, 4 years older and wiser, he has become aware and eating sweets to get in the best shape for the upcoming competitors in France.
“It’s different for me because it’s my second. I feel like I’m more mature, I kind of know what’s coming,” said the 25-year-old.
Giants winger Joe Kokanasiga insists he is now ready to pull on the England shirt
He believes that he now knows how you can control his feelings and can give England his best
Cokanasiga put on 4kg over the summer and worked with his girlfriend to improve his eating habits
“Looking back, I wish I knew a lot more so I could have coped better. When it all happened, it was like, ‘Oh, this is unreal,’ and every time you get dropped, you feel like it’s the end of the world, but it’s not. Now I understand how to manage my feelings and ignore certain problems.
Cokanasiga put on 4kg over the summer and worked with her friend Rosie to improve her off-season eating habits and limit sugary sweets.
He competes with the likes of Caden Murley, Jonny May and Henry Arundel to tackle his approach to Steve Borthwick’s main squad, working closely with a sports psychologist to organize sporting activities.
“I’ve been paying a lot more attention to discovering my ‘why,'” Cokanasiga said. Lots of breathing exercises. One thing I did was journaling before bed – a nice debriefing after a long week of training or just writing it down before a race. I worked with Katie Warriner and that was the only thing I struggled with. Mental things have helped me a lot, especially throughout this summer. It has made me more determined and hungry.
“It’s an extended course covering my whole life, from my birth to how I grew up. My “why” has always been there, it just benefits from it. My “Why: It’s always my family, but you forget you’re playing for yourself too. I always played for young Joe who wanted to be in this Rugby World Cup. I think back to 2015 and I was the talisman for Fiji in the first game (against England), standing there and thinking ‘I want to do this, I want to play at Twickenham’. I prefer to accept again and play as the younger Joe.
