The French rugby team begins the World Cup in New Zealand this Saturday, with the ambition of finally lifting the trophy. Four Iséroises are among the 32 players selected, including Manae Feleu. At 22, the young woman already has a busy life, meeting in the Grand Format of France Bleu Isère.
Thousands of miles from his family from the age of 14
Born in 2000, Manae Feleu has grew up in Futuna in the Pacific Ocean. It was there that she discovered rugby at the age of 11, in the wake of her brother and her little sister Teani. A sport that will take her thousands of miles from home, and from an early age. Because at 14, Manae Feleu flies away to complete her high school years in New Zealand, more than 3000 kilometers from her family. “It’s true that when my parents left me at boarding school the first time, I asked myself questions“, recalls the young woman who also built herself during these years in the country of rugby. “It’s a part of my life that made me grow, gain autonomy, I learned a lot about myself and the world during this period.“. So inevitably, to come back in New Zealand with the tricolor jersey for this World Cup is a very special moment for Manae Feleu.
– Karine Valentine
In the fourth year of medicine
A competition during which the third line of the FCG Amazons will put her other life on hold, that of a fourth-year medical student. Between sport and studies, Manae Feleu must constantly juggle, the days are busy, but she finds her account: “it’s a balance, if I only did rugby, it would get me drunk in the long run, and the same if I only did medicine“. But for the moment Manae has only one idea in mind: this Rugby World Cup, which the French team hopes to win for the first time.