Rugby World Cup: 'Father' Samo's late renaissance takes everyone by surprise

From semi-retired club player to Wallabies World Cup icon in just 17 months — few tales of sporting comeback can match the remarkable renaissance of Australia's 35-year-old number eight Radike Samo.

"Wow, what a surprise to hear his name again! Thought he retired a long time ago...," one rugby fan posted on a website when Samo was brought into the Queensland Reds squad as an injury replacement for lock James Horwill in April last year.

Viewed as a chance for one last hurrah in Super rugby, few would have predicted then that the Fiji-born forward would again wear Wallaby gold.

Fewer still would have forecast a 60-metre tackle-busting sprint to score a try against the All Blacks that would help secure Australia a first Tri-Nations title since 2001.

"I'm a bit surprised, too, I never thought I'd be in the Wallabies squad this year," Samo told reporters this week. "It's just been training hard, concentrating on what I do every day at training. That's probably the main thing that helps me play very well at the weekend.

"I've just loved playing rugby this year, it's the end of my career, so I want to finish on a high. I've got to do it now or give up."

Unmistakable not only for his hulking 1.97m frame but also for his voluminous 'afro', Samo has developed a cult following in Australia — and increasingly in New Zealand, if the reaction of Aucklanders is anything to go by.

"It's been great, eh?" Samo added. "I've always loved coming to Auckland, the crowd are crazy. Wherever you go, people knows you, it's been awesome."

This season has already been little short of sensational for Samo as the Reds scorched to the Super rugby title with a victory over the All Blacks-laden Canterbury Crusaders in the final.

It was not the first trophy for Samo, who won two Super rugby titles with the ACT Brumbies in the early years of the century and a French championship with Stade Francais in 2007.

After being rejected by Fiji for their 2003 World Cup squad, Samo had also tasted international rugby with six Tests for the Wallabies in 2004.

His French sojourn was followed by a spell in Japan. When he returned to Sydney in 2010, he played club rugby while putting out the feelers for the chance to play at provincial level again.

"I had a chat with my wife about it, I wanted to come back and have another crack," he said. "I didn't have a team, so my manager called around Australia and a few of the teams said 'too old', 'too slow', but [Queensland Reds coach] Ewen McKenzie gave me a chance.

"I took that chance and last year to this year has been an awesome season. I enjoy playing with the younger boys, it doesn't make me feel old, it makes me play better, I work twice as hard."

Samo returned to the international arena for the first time in seven years for the 14-9 Tri-Nations victory over South Africa in Durban and then came his eighth Test and his first international try.

"It's a bit crazy to make a break like that against the All Blacks," he said. "It's going to be there for the rest of my life, you know, to break through some of the best rugby players in the world and to cross the line after that for your first try in Test rugby is amazing."

Samo describes his squad mates as "an awesome bunch of blokes" but has a special relationship with his Reds teammate and Wallabies scrum-half Will Genia, who has been nicknamed after Samo's son Rusi since he, too, grew an afro last year.

Genia, his roommate for both province and country, has since been keeping his hair short, and underwent a particularly close crop earlier this week.

"We look after each other, he looks after me, I look after him," said Samo. "He reminds me of my son, who is 10 but is pretty much the same height as Willie.

"That's why he's shaved his head, because he doesn't want to get called my son, because my son is growing an afro."

Samo played Australia's opening 32-6 victory over Italy and his second-half performance in particular suggested that he had done enough to keep his place for the second Pool C match against Ireland on Saturday.

So what is the secret to his longevity and remarkable return to rugby's top table?

"To be honest mate, I just love playing rugby," he said.