24-year-old rugby player William Ryder from Fiji was in town for the Standard Chartered Sevens Singapore games last weekend. Cool, calm and collected, Ryder is earmarked to be one of the mainstays in the Fiji squad team.

What is your current state of mind?
I’m feeling very at ease with my current status in life. I’m healthy, have a beautiful wife and I represent my country in a sport that I am very passionate about.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

I think I was born to play rugby though I played football for a short spell too. Growing up, I’ve never thought of becoming anything else.

What is your biggest achievement?
Helping Fiji to win the Rugby World Cup Sevens Championship.

How do you spend your Sunday mornings?
If it’s not a competition or training weekend, I like to sleep in and laze around.

What is your idea of hell?
Going shopping with a group of women.

What is your guilty pleasure?
Afternoon naps.

How do you recharge?
Going on holidays.

What’s playing in your Ipod/MP3/CD player?
Mostly hip hop and pop music.

What are you reading?

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.

What do you collect?
Tries and victories.

Where would you like to live?
Nowhere but Fiji. As players, we spend a fair bit of time on the road, so I’d really like to spend as much time in my homeland as possible.

What inspires you?
The person who inspires me the most is my mentor, Waisale Serevi. He taught me all that I know about the game. Without him, I am nothing.

What personal trait do you appreciate the most in others?
Godliness.

Do you have a cause or do you support one?
None at the moment, but I think I’d like to be involved with something to do with kids and serve as some form of inspiration to them.

Which living person do you admire most and would like to invite for dinner?
Nelson Mandela.

What about you that scares others?
My speed and the hunger I have to win each time I step on the pitch. When I get on the pitch, I feel happy and really want to fight, like a lion that wants to eat its prey. As soon as I hold the ball, I want to take it to the try line because I know that I can make it.

If you had to play a character in a movie, which movie and which character?
I like Russell Crowe’s character in Gladiator.

What did you believe at 18 that you wish you still believed now?
That size is all that matters.

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