Rugby: Fomai plans kidney donation for mum

Tivaini Fomai with mum Epenesa, and his children, Kiera-Alex (left), Fomai-Tivaini Palemia and Teiyah-Heidin. PHOTO/Paul Taylor

TIVAINI FOMAI's days of match-saving feats for Hastings Rugby and Sports are about to be replaced by a lifesaving one ... for his mother, Epenesa.

"This could be my last season of rugby. Mum's on dialysis and needs a kidney transplant. If she can lose 10 kilograms, I will donate her one of mine and that would mean me having to give rugby away," Fomai said.

"That being the case, it would be good to get a Maddison Trophy winner's medal this season as one of those have proved elusive so far."

Considering the assignment 29-year-old Fomai has in his rugby diary today, one could argue it's a little early for him to be talking about the lure of the Maddison Trophy. Fomai will play his 100th game for Ansin & Monteith Hastings and Rugby and Sports when they take on Tech Group of Companies Napier Technical in a sixth-round Nash Cup fixture, which doubles as the feature club day match at Elwood Park.

"Tech are always a hard game. They've got a particularly good front row ... I really respect frontrowers since switching from flanker to hooker," Fomai said.

"I've played No8 and second five-eighth as well as flanker and hooker. Nothing beats the front row but it does take longer to recover after a game when you've played up front."

A former Samoa rep, Fomai first played for Hastings Rugby and Sports in 2007. He said there had been numerous highlights with the 2012 season, when four Fomai brothers were among three sets of brothers in the team.

One of his brothers, midfield back Ausage Fomai, will start alongside him today.

"That's going to make it extra special. Hopefully, we can get the result we want but we know how good Tech's ball players are ... it's going to be tough," Fomai said.

A Hastings Boys' High School old boy, Fomai played three games for Samoa on their 2012 Northern Hemisphere tour. He started in the win against Canada and came off the bench in a win against Wales and loss to France.

Fomai ranked former Magpies Karl Lowe and Nui Bartlett as the toughest openside flankers he has marked in club play.

"I always looked up to them as players and they were good mates off the field. There was one season at school when all three of us formed the loose forward trio," Fomai recalled.

The first of Fomai's 16 first-class games for the Magpies was played in 2006, and the final one came last year. His recent club form suggests he could be useful in rep colours again during the July Ranfurly Shield defences, when several of the experienced key Magpies forwards will be in rest mode after Super Rugby duty.

"I'm not chasing Magpies selection but if I get the call I will help them out. I've got a lot on my plate at the moment."

In addition to keeping an eye on his mother's progress, the father of three - comprising 5-year-old twin girls and a 10-month-old son - works as a residential caregiver at Hohepa Homes and is in the second year of Bachelor of Sport and Recreation studies at EIT. He also assists his parents with their ministerial work at The Ever Lasting Gospel Church in Flaxmere.

"My long-term goal is to get into teaching," Fomai said.

K9 Petfoods Clive will also aim for a club day win when they host Hawke's Bay Insurances Ltd Napier Old Boys Marist at Farndon Park. Other games will see a repeat of last year's Maddison Trophy final when holders Progressive Meats Havelock North host Carters Frame and Truss Taradale at Anderson Park, MAC host Northfuels Central at Flaxmere Park and Tamatea host Tanalised Napier Pirate Rugby and Sports at Bill Mathewson Park.

Recent form suggests NOBM, Taradale, MAC and Pirate should be the respective winners. Fomai's milestone should be enough to inspire Hastings to victory.