Elia Canakaivata

Fijian flanker Elia Canakaivata, born on 12 July 1996, is a member of the Fijian Drua's Super Rugby Pacific squad. The Drua, who entered the competition in 2022, have built their forward identity around homegrown players, and Canakaivata has been part of that group across several seasons. He is a back-row forward whose game leans on the athleticism and offloading instincts that characterise Fijian rugby — defending wide, carrying in space and reading the breakdown in a side that prefers to play with width. At 29, Canakaivata is in the senior end of the Drua's back-row group, where his experience inside the system is a useful asset as the franchise continues to develop younger forwards alongside him. His career has unfolded primarily within the Fijian player pathway, and his role in the Drua pack has steadily become an established one as the franchise has matured into Super Rugby Pacific. Within a back-row group that has rotated heavily season by season, Canakaivata is among the more familiar figures, the kind of forward whose continuity in the squad has helped the Drua build a recognisable loose-forward identity.