Jope Tuikabe (born 27 November 1966) is a

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

an former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

and

rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

player. He played as a flanker. He has played for Fiji sevens since 1996. One year later, he was called up for the

1997 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 1997 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament and the first to be held in Hong Kong. It was the last major sporting event to be held in the then British dependency before the transfer of soverei ...

, which the Fijians won. He was elected as a star of tournament's team. Following the tournament, Post Fiji issued a series of stamps commemorating the winning team, which also included

Waisale Serevi Waisale Tikoisolomoni Serevi (born 20 May 1968) is a Fijian former rugby union football player and coach, and is a member of the World Rugby Hall of Fame. Serevi is renowned for his achievements in rugby sevens, while also enjoying a long car ...

, Taniela Qauqau, Leveni Duvuduvukula, Inoke Maraiwai, Aminiasi Naituyaga, Lemeki Koroi, Marika Vunibaka, Luke Erenavula and Manasa Bari. However, the Fijians did not manage to defend their title at the

2001 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2001 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the third edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens and was held in Mar del Plata, Argentina. New Zealand defeated Australia to win the tournament for the first time. All the matches were played at José María M ...

, as they were eliminated in the semi-finals of the main tournament after losing to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Overall, Tuikabe scored nine tries in both of these tournaments. He appeared twice in the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

: in Kuala Lumpur 1998 and

Manchester 2002 The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Manchester, England, ...

, winning a silver medal in both tournaments after their final defeats against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. He, however won the rugby sevens tournament at the 2001 World Games. He also took part at the IRB Sevens World Series during the 1999/2000, 2000/2001 and 2001/2002 seasons. During three years of appearances in the rugby union squad, he played in 20 matches, including 17 official international matches, scoring 15 points - all tries. In 2001, thanks to his performances in both squads, he was awarded the Player of the Year Award. He was a soldier by profession and trained the Army rugby sevens team, and at international level he was in the coaching staff as assistant coach or head coach.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tuikabe, Jope 1966 births Fijian rugby union players Living people Rugby union flankers Fiji international rugby union players I-Taukei Fijian people Fijian rugby sevens players Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Fiji Rugby sevens players at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Rugby sevens players at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists in rugby sevens Fiji international rugby sevens players Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games World Games gold medalists for Fiji World Games medalists in rugby sevens Medalists at the 2001 World Games