A speedster who has played sevens at the highest level has come to Te Puke looking to rediscover his love of rugby after a season of setbacks.

Femi Sofolarin has played sevens for England, Scotland and Great Britain, plus 15-a-side rugby for Scotland’s under-18s. He said the last sevens season with the Great Britain squad on the HSBC World Sevens Series was a “bit nasty” with injuries.

“I tore my hamstring off the bone in pre-season, so I missed five or six months of the year there, and the first game back I fractured my leg in Los Angeles, so that put me out for pretty much the rest of the year; then I had a patella tendon surgery in the off season.”

Rugby community

His partner is Black Ferns Sevens player Jazmin Felix-Hotham.

Through her, he knows Black Ferns Sevens player Sarah Hirini, whose husband Conor is a former Te Puke Primary School staff member.

Former Te Puke Sports assistant coach Luther Hirini and current player Grady Forbes are also on the school staff, and the connections brought the possibility of working at the school and joining Te Puke Sports.

“It would have been a mission to get back into that [GB sevens set-up], so I was keen on a little change-up. It made sense to come over to New Zealand.

“When you’ve had a few injuries, you fall out of love with it, so I was keen to find that love for the game again. I’ve never played club rugby before, in England or anywhere, and I was keen to get back to grassroots stuff.”

Defending champions

It hadn’t escaped his notice that Te Puke Sports are the defending Baywide premier champions.

“They are a good group of boys with a really exciting backline especially, and it will be cool to be a part of that and hopefully go back to back.”

He is no stranger to New Zealand and played in Hamilton in the World Sevens Series.

“I’ve visited a fair few times and I love it.”

Femi started playing rugby aged 11 at Dulwich College and Beckenham RFC and went on to make his Premiership club debut for Harlequins Under-18s in November 2017.

He had trials with the England sevens set-up while still at school and went straight into the England squad after his last school exam.

Through his mother’s side, he qualified to play for Scotland.

Because he was still in his teens, he was able to switch to the Scottish sevens squad and from there won a contract to play for the Great Britain sevens team that competes on the world circuit. GB narrowly missed out on qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

“But I was in the crowd watching the GB girls and watching Jazz play,” Sofolarin said.

A fresh start

Almost starting afresh, he has set himself goals for the 2025 season.

“The root of it is to enjoy rugby again, that’s the main one, and getting the body right with all the surgeries. As a winger you rely on your body and your mobility quite a lot, so it’s try to get hamstrings sorted and the knees sorted and if the body feels good, see where I go with that.”

While he has played some 15s rugby, sevens has been his mainstay for many years.

“All my junior rugby was 15s in the UK and I played last year for London Scottish in the championship and I’ve watched a lot, so the understanding of the game won‘t be a struggle, it’s more the 80 minutes versus the 14 minutes [of sevens games] which is the struggle.

“You’ve obviously got to be fit to play sevens, but it’s totally different.”

Femi is confident he will be ready by the time the season rolls around on March 22.

International sevens player Femi Sofolarin will be donning Te Puke Sports colours in the 2025 Baywide rugby season. Photo/Stuart Whitaker

He has also been involved in the Steamers development programme and played for the Bay of Plenty Wasps last weekend.

“The main focus is the club season here and it would be pretty cool to be part of a successful team at grassroots level in what is a real community club. Then if I feel good and I’m playing well, I’ll see what else is on the cards in terms of pushing for NPC – it would be a really cool competition to play in.

“It’s cool as well that loads of the kids from the primary school come and watch.”

A strong line-up

Te Puke Sports premier coach Martin Ash said Femi’s arrival added another dimension to what was a strong backline that was largely intact from 2024’s premiership-winning team.

“He’s played a lot of sevens, but it’s different to 15s. The skill set is different, but he’s quick and there’s no substitute for pace.”

His place in the team is not a given and he will have to work himself into the team.

“But so far he has fitted into the system well.”