“I was in Suva, the capital of Fiji, making a film, and our crew took over half of the Grand Pacific Hotel. One day after work, I came back and the pool was full of maybe 40 of the most beautiful men I had ever seen, flapping around in the water. I was like, ‘Who—what is happening?’ It turned out they were the Flying Fijians, the national rugby team, there for the World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup. It was just our film crew and their team sharing this hotel, so we became friends—always seeing each other in the hallways, hanging out by the pool with a boom box, playing cards, and drinking lots of beer. It was like I had a bunch of new cousins. I asked them to show me around Suva, and we went to many rugby games, but I’ll never forget the intensity of the first time I saw the Flying Fijians play: I was jumping, shrieking, putting my hands over my eyes, and squeezing the arms of the people beside me. Compared to football, which is so start-and-stop, rugby has this constant movement and rhythm. The stands were full, and I could feel the hope for a win and the dread of a loss so palpably; in Suva, whether it’s a good or a bad day depends on how their team played the night before. I could smell all this Fijian food, like rourou and whatever they were cooking in the lovo, wafting through the stadium, but I couldn’t even eat. I was too nervous for the players. At each end of the stadium, hundreds of kids were peering through the gates, all wearing the white jersey of their favorite player. People who couldn’t get tickets sat on a hillside picnicking and trying to get a glimpse of the game. It felt so important to everyone. Most of the people in the stadium were related in some way to a player because it’s such a small island, so there’s this familial pressure, like, ‘You’d better bring this trophy home, son, or we are going to have a problem tonight at the dinner table.’ They did win, in the end, and it was electrifying.”
Shailene Woodley stars in Three Women, premiering on Starz on September 13.
This article appeared in the September/October 2024 issue of Condé Nast Traveler. Subscribe to the magazine here.
