Huge haka farewells a Bay rugby great

DOUG LAING
A haka swelling to more than 80 men as it rocked Napier's Centennial Hall was a fitting farewell yesterday for rugby great Jarrod Cunningham, who celebrated two of his greatest sporting moments just outside on McLean Park.
It was on the park that Cunningham played for Hawke's Bay when they beat the British Isles 29-17 in 1993, and France 30-25 a year later - both of which were highlighted during a service attracting about 850 people, and lasting about the same time as each match he played.
Eulogists might also have mentioned two other matches in a streak of four unbeaten runs against touring opposition on our park in less than 24 months, a 14-14 draw with Tonga in which Cunningham scored all the Bay's points, also in 1994, and a 99-0 whipping of Cook Islands a year later when the fullback kicked a Hawke's Bay match record of 13 conversions.
It wasn't, however, so much about hearing how Cunningham let his feet do the talking on the football field, as it was about how his heart did the talking once he was off it, battling for six years against the ultimately fatal muscle-wasting condition motor neurone disease.
It turned out everyone was lucky to know him, but even luckier if they were on "the list" - his own email list through which, on a daily basis, he would circulate across the globe an extraordinary array of motivational directions.
There must have been a thousand, right to Sunday, the day before he died, when he sent four, said therapist Mark Foote, who most closely watched Cunningham defy the illness for the three years since the sportsman returned home in 2004.
Among the crowd yesterday were at least nine former All Blacks, including retired All Black captain Tana Umaga, and former Hawke's Bay captain Norm Hewitt, the latter coming "off the bench" to speak in place of London Irish representative Robert Todd, who was unable to make it in time.
The service was led by longtime Havelock North coach Tom Blake. Nikki and Freida Morris spoke on behalf of the family, former wing Tony Maidens on behalf of Havelock North and Hawke's Bay teammates, and Hawke's Bay rugby union chairman Richard Hunt on behalf of the wider rugby fraternity.
The last words were left for the player's closest pal, Conrad Waitoa, and neighbour Henare O'Keefe. They both joined the haka - two haka, Tika Tonu, of Ngati Kahungunu, and the All Black trademark Ka Mate.
A memorial service in the UK will be held in a chapel near Twickenham on September 19, during the Rugby World Cup.
Cunningham gave up the chance to play in the World Cup four years ago, when prior to learning of his illness, he turned down overtures from Scotland coach Ian McGeechan and ultimately successful English coach Clive Woodward.