Hi °C | Lo °C 
Ulster’s flying Fijian, Timoci ‘Jimmy’ Nagusa, found Monday’s return to Newforge harder than most of his club colleagues.
His problem? The cold weather.
Tuesday was even harder for the man from the South Pacific, the first frost of the season having turned much of Ulster white overnight.
Winter wonderland?
Not to Nagusa’s way of thinking. He hates the cold.
The weather apart, he has returned in very good spirits from the time spent with his fellow Fijians
An his mood was boosted by the fact that he scored for his country in last weekend’s 29-18 victory over Romania in Bucharest.
“It was good to meet with them all again. I enjoy playing for Fiji very much and I am very happy to have scored for my country,” said Nagusa.
After receiving a late call-up to the squad, he was introduced as a second-half replacement when the tourists met Ireland at the RDS on November 21, a night on which Tom Court and Stephen Ferris started for the opposition.
It was another of those occasions when the Irish weather made life difficult for the Fijian, with torrential rain and a strong, viciously cold wind rendering it a pretty miserable night.
So, too, did the boot of Irish debutant fly-half, Jonathan Sexton, who landed a perfect seven out of seven kicks off the tee.
“He was very good,” is Nagusa’s assessment of Ireland’s new number 10.
But the Fijian is not writing off Ronan O’Gara just yet.
“They will bring him back because some day they are going to need his experience,” is his forecast.
Now, though, Nagusa’s sights are fixed on Friday night and Glasgow Warriors at Ravenhill.
Ideally, of course, he would like to see dry conditions, but experience has taught him not to be overly optimistic about the local climate.
The affable winger laughs heartily at the suggestion that prior to the November cessation in club hostilities he had been spending more and more time among the forwards because he has begun to enjoy the physicality of northern hemisphere rugby.
Indeed, having seen him score a couple of tries from possession pinched from the pack, Stephen Ferris went so far as to suggest that Nagusa appeared to be eyeing up his number six jersey.
“No,” he guffaws, before adding: “But if it rains on Friday night I might go in there to keep dry.
“It’s warmer in the pack than on the wing!”
He is raring to go against opponents he has not faced before, his return to Ulster having gone smoothly.
He settled in at once, a fact he attributes to the upbeat mood within the camp.
“It was easy because the bonding in the team is so good.
“Friday night is an important match; it is very important we win so that we stay in the top four,” says Nagusa.
“A lot of us have been away with our countries but now we must settle back to playing for Ulster.”
Wary of the distractions at this time of year, he expresses the hope that Ulster will remain focused rather than allowing themselves to become sidetracked.
“We have important matches coming up and with all the Christmas distractions we must keep working if we are to progress.
“We want a top four place in the Magners League and we want to go forward in Europe, so these are facing big games.
“It is important we are ready for those and that we do not get distracted by all of what is going on around us at this time of year.”
