John Hart: Fats - Samoa's shining light

Peter Fatialofa inspired as Samoa skipper. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Opinion

Peter Fatialofa was one in a million - a trailblazer for Polynesian rugby, a kind man, always with a twinkle in his eye, who made people laugh and who would have been tickled to see the outpouring of emotion after his death.

I remember the first time I met Fats. I was in my second year as coach of Auckland, we had a game at Eden Park and the seconds had played before us. Fats came into the Elephant Room afterwards - he'd obviously had a few; his tie was askew - and said to me: "Harty, why don't you pick me?"

Well, I did, in the end. But right then, I told him: "Have a look at yourself; maybe you need more discipline." And he did that.

What we built in that Auckland team of the 80s was typified by Fats. He ended up playing 71 games for Auckland but during his Auckland career, he was up against John Drake and later Olo Brown - and when you are discussing the great tighthead props of world rugby of any era, those two would have to be right up there.

So even though I selected him during the last three years of my Auckland coaching time, he spent a lot of time on the reserve bench - but that didn't matter. He never wavered. He was always committed, humble, devoted to the team. That Auckland team of the 80s was still the most professional team I have ever had anything to do with - even including the All Blacks.

We kind of broke the mould with that team and, along with Grizz Wyllie's Canterbury side, we changed the way rugby was played.

We also made the team a giant family affair. Wives, girlfriends and parents were all part of the team and Fats loved that extended family thing and prospered with it.

He was a huge physical presence but he was never out of control. He stood up when he had to stand up but otherwise he was a gentle, humble man - a gentle giant, if you like. The story Michael Jones tells about Fats clipping an opponent who had been fouling Michael because "he's a Christian and he won't do it" was typical Fats. He was protective of the team.

That's one reason why I made him Keeper Of The Shield during that Auckland team's Ranfurly Shield reign. After winning the Shield against Canterbury in the 'Game of the Century' in 1985, I gave him the Shield to look after. Next morning at breakfast, I asked him what he had done with the Shield. He said, "I did what you said, Boss - I slept with it."

He always called me Boss, even to this day. After I spoke at a Pasifika function he had asked me to attend, he surprised me by giving me a carved wooden statue of a Samoan warrior.

"You'd better have this, Boss," he said.

A couple of days later, he was back with another carved Samoan statue, this time a figure of a woman.

"If you've got that one, Boss," he said, gesturing at the first one, "you'd better have this one too."

There was cultural significance in it; Fats was a very proud Samoan. Everyone remembers the heroics of he and his Samoan team in the 1991 Rugby World Cup but I'd go further than that - Peter Fatialofa was a catalyst for the upsurge of Polynesian rugby, not just Samoan rugby.

In that Auckland team of the 80s, if you think about it, there were not many Polynesians playing - Michael Jones, Mata'afa Keenan, Joe Stanley, Lindsay Harris, Glenn Rich; certainly nowhere near the numbers playing top rugby nowadays. BG Williams started it but I think Fats was an inspiration for many Polynesian rugby players then.

He was in his twilight years with Auckland when he took Samoa to the World Cup in 1991 but I am sure he took a lot of what he had learned with Auckland on that expedition. Samoa really gave him the opportunity to express himself on the international stage - and he did.

They beat Argentina, they beat Wales and lost only 9-3 to Australia before their efforts caught up with them in their quarter-final against Scotland.

I heard Andy Haden say in a tribute that he thought Fats was a bit unlucky not to be an All Black and maybe that's right. He was in the shadow of Drake and Brown and Steve McDowall and at that stage we and Canterbury were in the process of selecting props, locks and loose forwards who could run and pass like backs.

Fats was maybe down a level in terms of some of those skills but people like Richard Loe, Steve McDowall and John Drake would attest he was an excellent scrummager. Fats liked and respected Drakey very much and Drakey liked him too. Fats could pass himself off as being a bit simple; he liked people to think that. But he was an intelligent man and Drakey recognised that and played to it. Drakey and Fats - both gone now - it's tragic.

However, if he was in the shadow of one or two All Black props, Fats entered the light with Samoa. I will never forget congratulating him at the World Cup in 1991.

"I am so proud, Boss," he said. "So proud."

We are proud of him too.