Bekir Fuente’s “wild ride’ leads to Sandy Park

Exeter Chiefs Women’s hooker Sofia Bekir Fuente has been settling into life in England having made her way to these shores from Australia via Spain.

The 25-year-old qualifies to play for all three countries as she was born in Ovideo, Spain, grew up in Perth, Australia, and her father is English, and she has played the sport in each one.

A latecomer to rugby, Bekir Fuente describes her rugby journey as a “wild ride”.

She said: “It’s been a bit of a wild ride and it's been fun being here and reflecting on it. I started back when COVID hit, so really not too long ago in 2021.

“When I moved home from Melbourne back to Perth because of COVID, I knew I needed something social. I knew I liked contact, rough sports like water polo and I watched rugby with my parents, and I liked the look of it. So, I literally just looked it up one day. I saw the Cottesloe Shegulls was the women's team and I thought that was absolutely awesome! I rocked up and had a great time at the session. I came out absolutely gassed!”

Despite being bruised and exhausted from that first training session, Bekir Fuente kept coming back for more leading to a championship title and a fast-tracked call-up to the Western Force development squad.

“It was mad. I remember my parents laughing at me, going: ‘This girl can't do anything socially like it has to be all go, go, go!’”

When the opportunity ran out in Australia, Bekir Fuente headed to the UK and spend a season at North Bristol RFC before playing for CRAT (Club de Rugby Arquitectura Técnica) A Coruña in Spain.

Bekir Fuente continued: “Then the opportunity for Exeter Chiefs opened up and I couldn't have been happier about it.”

As Exeter Chiefs Women’s social media channels have shown, Bekir Fuente has been getting stuck in right from the beginning of June when players had the option to join pre-season with the club for the month or do their own training.

“It's been a long preseason, but it's been absolutely fantastic. It's quite nerve-wracking when you first arrive, but the girls have been so welcoming. The coaches have been so switched on. We're right into the thick of it. I'm really keen to get stuck into the games now.”

Bekir Fuente will be hoping to be involved in Chiefs’ PWR Cup games, starting with Harlequins away next Saturday, 23 August (KO 15:00) at Cobham RFC. Chiefs then play Gloucester-Hartpury at the 4ED Hartpury Stadium on Sunday, 7 September (KO 13:00) and followed by their first game of the season against Trailfinders on Saturday, 20 September (KO 13:00). Tickets are available here.

“I'm looking forward to getting stuck in playing and learning from some amazing people coming back into camp. All the girls at the World Cup, I’m keen for them to come back here. We've got some amazing forwards, and I just want to get as much information and experience from them as I can.”

Tickets for the seven Rugby World Cup games being held at Sandy Park cab be purchased here. Use the ‘Venue’ filter to choose Sandy Park matches.