Rugby: Paewai follows in footsteps

Havelock North second five-eighth Jesse Paewai on the job as an apprentice builder for Gemco Construction & Trades during a kitchen rebuild at Woodford House. Photo / Paul Taylor

Talk future third generation Hawke's Bay Magpies rugby players and Havelock North second five-eighth Jesse Paewai will pop up in the conversation reasonably quick.

However Paewai, a grandson of 1960s and '70s Magpies halfback and Maori All Black Hepa Paewai and son of Magpies centurion and Maori All Black midfielder Murdoch Paewai, refused to look that far ahead.

"While I'm pretty happy with how I've been going this year I'm just focusing on playing for Havelock North. After four years of struggling with injuries including shoulder and knee reconstructions it's good to be injury-free this season," Paewai said.

The 21-year-old, who works as an apprentice builder for Gemco Construction & Trades, isn't just injury-free. He's turning in some polished displays including a player-of-the-match performance for the villagers as they ended Napier Old Boys Marist's unbeaten run with a 24-12 Tui Nash Cup sixth round victory on Saturday.

While Paewai was thrilled to produce the feat on club day it also saw him become the sixth weekly winner in the tussle for the McDonalds-Hawke's Bay Today Club Rugby Player of the Year award. A quick glance at his whakapapa - his uncle Nathan Paewai is also a former Maori All Black - will tell you the former Hawke's Bay under-16 and under-19 rep never goes short of advice.

"Dad has had so much experience so when he gives advice I just soak it up. It has also been good playing alongside and learning off my cousin [Adam Bradey] who has played second five-eighth and centre for the Magpies in the ITM Cup."

Just as his father and uncle used to turn on the razzle dazzle in the Havelock North backlines alongside the likes of Tony Maidens and the late Jarrod Cunningham in the mid- and late-1990s, Paewai has regularly played alongside his brother Kalin Paewai, who scored a hattrick in the 2014 Maddison Trophy final win. Kalin is eyeing a return to club play during the Maddison Trophy rounds after knee surgery.

After leaving Napier Boys' High School in 2013, Paewai went to Australia for a gap year and made the Rebels team which finished second to the Force at a national tournament for under-20 teams from Super Rugby franchises. This experience enhanced his career, as does his replication of skills and moves he picks up from watching Super Rugby matches on television.

"Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith were my heroes. I liked Nonu's flair and Smith was just Mr Perfect ... he couldn't put a foot wrong."

When Paewai is at work he often comes across opposing players at different building sites. The usual banter and lunch and smoko bets take place.

With the villagers starting to hit the form which saw them reach the last two Maddison Trophy finals, Paewai may be struggling to find anyone wanting to take him on with any substantial bets.