Big-hearted hooker misses out on biggest fan

MELBOURNE - Little Samuel Mealamu is enjoying having father Keven in his living room most nights during the rugby World Cup.

Mother Latai is not quite so happy.

Together in their South Auckland home, all they can see of Keven is television coverage of him playing and training on the fields of Australia.

Mealamu, 24, regrets he has almost become used to being away from his young family.

The demands of professional rugby have kept him away from home for much of this year.

His Papatoetoe wedding of 10 months ago is now a distant memory, falling in the small December-January window when players can live normal lives.

Mealamu admits he misses his two-year-old son like anything. And it seems the feeling is mutual.

"My wife was saying he's going up and kissing the screen and saying 'this is dad' ... I'll be looking forward to getting home," Mealamu said, trying to keep his mind from wandering too far from the job at hand, a World Cup semifinal against Australia at Sydney on Saturday.

But the nuggety All Blacks hooker can't help it.

"He's grown more in these last couple of weeks and he's talking heaps. I'm missing out a bit."

To keep him level, Keven and Latai talk four to five times a day and a batch of photographs featuring Samuel are emailed across the Tasman every week.

"It's been a long time away from my family and it's been really hard," he said.

"I owe a lot of what I have today to my wife and to my son. It's what keeps the boat steady, it's always good to come home and have the family there.

"It's hard for us but it's good for our relationship as well, it makes our relationship stronger."

Rugby is the focus for just a week and a bit more. Once he's home, the Mealamu family are going on a summer holiday, although they haven't decided on a destination.

Samuel will have seen plenty more of his father this week after Mealamu scored a crucial try in last Saturday's quarter-final win over South Africa.

After a quiet tournament through pool play, Mealamu is now showing the form that makes him one of the world's top hookers.

Few, if any, front-rowers can boast his combination of remarkable running ability and ball skills.

His try was typical, bursting through two tackles and accelerating 25m to score.

Coach John Mitchell, content that Mealamu is also performing his primary scrum and lineout duties well at this tournament, said Mealamu gave the All Blacks a competitive edge over other teams.

"He has qualities that I don't think other hookers have in the game at the moment," Mitchell said.

"He's an outstanding allround footballer and he worked very, very hard to get to where he is at this moment.

"He's always looking to learn and improve his game."

Listed at 1.81m in official programmes, Mealamu is clearly much shorter than that although he has certainly bulked up in recent seasons.

The hooker has his own explanation for clocking up more line breaks than most backs would dream of.

"There are some huge guys out there and maybe because I'm so small I slip through."

It's a typically modest answer from the quietly spoken man who, despite his confrontational position on the field, has always placed great importance on staying humble.

A deeply religious individual, he doesn't drink, smoke or bad-mouth any opponent, preferring actions to words.

His family shifted to Auckland when father Luka was one of many workers made redundant at the Tokoroa mill.

Mealamu's gift for rugby was obvious.

He starred for Aorere College and played at openside flanker for the New Zealand under-16 team.

He said Waikato breakaway Duane Monkley was a big influence in his formative years.

However, his frame began growing outwards, not upwards and he missed selection in the national secondary schools side of 1997, forcing the career-altering decision to move to hooker.

Several other leading hookers at the World Cup are former flankers and Mealamu admits those old skills remain a help.

Mealamu made the first of his 45 NPC appearances for Auckland in 1999 but his stature left a question mark over his ability to progress.

When he was not wanted by the Blues last year, it appeared his progress had stalled.

A signwriting career became a more realistic goal.

But he was drafted to the Chiefs, played all 11 games and now admits the consistent rugby he was able to play lifted his standards immensely.

He starred for Auckland late last year and earned selection for his first All Blacks tour, making his test debut against Wales at Cardiff.

More outstanding form for the Blues this year kept him in national colours and he was promoted to No 1 in the No 2 jersey when Mitchell dropped Anton Oliver ahead of the Tri-Nations.

Mealamu said he was never going to follow in the footsteps of older brother Luke, who played for Samoa in 2000.

"It was always a dream of mine to play for the All Blacks, I was born and raised here," he said.

"I never thought I'd be here a year ago or two years ago. Now I am here, I'm enjoying it.

"Every time you put on the black jersey you're thinking 'I've got to play well, there's no other option'."

For now he is buoyed by the support of wife and child and the regular messages of support from aunts and uncles in Tokoroa.

His parents met in him Sydney on the weekend of the tests against Wales and filled him in on all the gossip in New Zealand.

It's something Mealamu appreciated, knowing all is well on the home front as he prepares for his 12th and most important test.

Samuel Mealamu may not be the only New Zealander kissing their televisions if dad has another blinder.

- NZPA

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