
Share
25th February 2022
04:40pm GMT

"He's a tremendous fella," he began. "I was very lucky to be able to spend some time with him. You know when you meet some people and they just touch you straight away, from the off. "His smile, his generosity, his being as a person was outstanding, you know? He touched everyone and he was very giving of his knowledge."[caption id="attachment_250855" align="aligncenter" width="800"]
Portrait of Va'aiga Tuigamala looking skyward during the British Lions' tour of New Zealand in 1993. (Credit: Dave Rogers/Allsport)[/caption]
"Whilst he was over at Wigan, the amount of people that used to come over and see him, not just family but friends, just shows what he means to people. When he left Wigan, we were all gutted because he added so much to the group. That's him as a person, and that is what we'll miss, first and foremost. "From a rugby fan's point of view, he was awesome. I was in awe of him. I was young when I was playing with him, and I was in awe of his skill. He came over to rugby league, and it was daunting to him. Inga had obviously played rugby union on the wing and he wouldn't have been used to being thrown into the professional [rugby league] game. "I remember a game when he played centre against the legend of Mal Meninga and, wow, what a tussle. He adapted unbelievably well, because of his skill-set. He had unbelievable feet for such a big, dynamic, powerful beast of a man. I can't say enough about him."https://www.instagram.com/p/CaXMS16Mh1d/ Farrell learned of the news, like most of us, on Thursday afternoon and, as someone that knew Tuigamala so well, he admits he was jarred by it. "I was on the training field yesterday," he said, "and [the news] came up on my watch.
"I couldn't believe it. I actually couldn't believe it. I had to have a minute to myself. "Prayers and thoughts are obviously with his nearest and dearest. Very sad news for everyone."Farrell, earlier today, named his Ireland team to face Italy, with six changes being made to the side that lost narrowly to France in their last outing.
Explore more on these topics: