The story of the Apolima Strait test swim 2015
Mike Cochrane, Rosie Sharman, Kane Orr 

It was the perfect day for a swim and the worst day. We launched off at 5.23 am, off the ferry terminal at Mulfanua. The aim was to swim to Savaii 22.3kms away. Kane and Mike stuck together for the first hour until daylight and Rosie had a boat to herself. Each had kayak support and I was on the kayak for Mike. Kane had a boat to himself too, and Mike was a floater - actually he shared a boat with Rosie but you cannot contain Mike, he's a stronger swimmer than Rosie and he had me by his side.

On Kane's boat was his wife Narelle and Pauline English who swam to Apolima Island the day before. That in itself is a huge feat. Dave Champion, Pauline's husband, was on the kayak for Kane. On Rosie's boat was Scotty Rowlands and the two boatmen with Shane Taivai Paulo on the kayak for her. Mike and I were on our own pushing on ahead with everyone in sight. 

The idea for the swim came from Kane. He is training for his swim across the English Channel. I wanted to help him achieve his goal of swimming to Savaii, but I then realised my timing was all wrong. The last thing I wanted to do after a busy Swim Series and Warrior Race was to spend a full day on the water on an inter-island 22km swim.

The swim was meant for Monday 10th August but bad weather meant it was delayed. Mind you, after a torrid week of SSS events a full cancellation was a welcome relief. But I had made a commitment to Kane and I was going to see it through. It was good Mike and Rosie joined the swim.

Finally, the weather forecast looked good for Wednesday. There was to be light winds all day and right through the day. Up to then everything was marginal - I even posited an alternative coastal 22km swim in the event of a full cancellation. But with the good weather forecast for Wednesday, I made the call for the full swim starting at 5 am. I was up at 2 am getting things ready and was at the swim site by 3.30 am. The two support boats arrived at Mulifanua Lodge where Kane and Mike and crew were staying, those were loaded with supplies. Still we were a bit late, starting 20mins behind schedule at 5.23 am.

The morning was perfect, the sea was flat and a perfect day for a swim. The surprising thing was, Rosie led for the first 8 kms of the race. Mike and Kane exited the Mulifanua channel quite wide and lost ground from the start. Soon after daylight when I became useful Mike and I took off, Kane by that stage very early on in the swim had had several jelly fish attacks. He was in some discomfort. Mike also sustained some stinger attacks and felt numb around his face. Rosie seemed to have escaped it all. Kane fell back as Mike and I surged forward to catch Rosie. Mike's feeding schedule was every 20mins or at about 1.5kms intervals.

From the kayak I directed the swim, and often called on Rosie's boat to ferry messages between the three groups. Soon after the start Rosie's boat veered right and was about a good 1km away and heading toward Russia. Several times I signalled over the boat, by raising the paddle high in the air to give instructions to pull Rosie to the left of the Ferry line - they were well to the right of that line. We kept on the left of the ferry line and kept to that until we caught up with Rosie and her crew. She was amazing and was going strong, as was Mike. Several reports back from Kane's boat indicated he too was going ok after the stinger attacks.

At the 8 km mark we caught up to Rosie and passed her. By then too she was finally well left of the ferry line and in line with us. Mike and I pushed on. Conditions were perfect. The sun was already up. To our left was first the island of Manono, then Apolima seemed to have awoken from a long night's slumber as the sun's rays touched her Cone peaks. We were in swim heaven.

Profile
Jonathan “Jono” Ridler 
Age, 31 years 
Grew up in Lynfield, Auckland 
School, Hebron Christian College, and one year at Auckland Grammar
Work, Client Operations Manager, Fliway 
 
 
Every time Jono’s phone rings in the next few days, it could be the call from his boat crew to get himself to Invercargill for his swim across Foveaux Strait. Within forty-eight hours of getting that call, Jono will be in the water swimming.
 
He is on full alert and soon he will take on the most feared ocean swim in New Zealand. When he crosses the finish line, he will complete the NZ Triple Crown of Marathon Swimming, inside two years. That in itself is a remarkable feat.

Jono swam Cook Strait in February 2019, twelve months later on the 29th of Feb 2020 he swam Lake Taupo. And now, he is on the cusp of adding Foveaux Strait to his impressive list of achievements. 
 
The Foveaux Strait Swim (28km) forms the big three of open water swims in NZ that includes Cook Strait (22km) and Lake Taupo (40.2km), and yet, whereas 130 swimmers have crossed Cook Strait, only eight swimmers have swum Foveaux.  
 
The Strait is not for bunnies, you have to be next-level off the boil, or beyond the boil to take it on. Even Jono himself outright rejected the idea of swimming it when a friend dropped a hint, as friends do. 
 
“No way.” 
 
That was his immediate and emphatic reaction to the suggestion. 
 
“Foveaux scared me, at the time it really scared me because of the cold, that was the big factor. It scares me less now. But I have always leaned toward things that I feared and that has led to Foveaux.”
 
“You can count on two hands the number of people who have swum Foveaux, that speaks to a couple things. One, it’s a hard swim, second, there isn’t a lot of infrastructure around the swim, you can’t just call someone up anyone and say you want to do that swim in a couple of years. All the logistics need to be put together from scratch.” 
 
The suggestion to swim Foveaux was made after his crossing of Cook Strait. Jono has one of the fastest swim times for the Strait finishing the swim at 6hrs22mins01sec. That is the 8th fastest time since the first crossing in 1962 (Barry Davenport). 
 
When he was preparing for the swim, Jono found out that he wasn’t the first family member to cross Cook Strait. His dad Gordon had rowed across it with the Muriwai Surf Life Saving Club in 1969 long before Jono was born.

After Cook Strait, Jono set his mind on the next challenge and that was swimming the 40.2km of Lake Taupo. He did that in a time of 12hrs22mins, again, one of the faster times for Taupo. 
 
Jono started to think more about Foveaux after Taupo and set out to piece it all together. He has put in some serious training for the swim. 
 
Over the last two months, he has been alternating between sixty and twenty-five km per week. He calls it bulking week and the recovery week, in the bulking week he “smashes the KMS” then bring it down the next week to give the body a chance to recover. The aim was to double the distance of Foveaux Strait on the peak weeks. 
 
Now that he has built up the miles, the next goal is to think about the time he is targeting for the swim. 
 
“It’s always so hard to say because it really is dependent on conditions on the day. I would love to give the time record a go, but anything can happen on the day, but at the moment I’m targeting the record.” 
 
That record belongs to Chloe Harris of Christchurch who swam Foveaux in February 2016 in 8hrs30mins. The other standout point of Chloe’s swim is Foveaux was her first swim of the Triple Crown, Cook Strait, and Taupo came later. 
 
That is the type of challenge that captures Jono’s attention and Chloe’s swim time is one thing he can focus on. 
 
“I want to give it everything I’ve got and do it as quickly as I can, that’s what my training has been geared around to hold a consistent pace and working on my top-level speed as well as my endurance speed in training which will impact my overall speed.”
 
The biggest factor will be the water temperature which will sit around 14 degrees Celsius. Jono has left nothing to chance. As well as swimming through the winter he built his own chest freezer ice-bath where he put silicon around the edges and added a digital temperature controller and a water filter. He has three sessions a week in the ice-bath for an hour at a time. On the day we met, he was planning on a ninety-minute session later that morning with the temperature set at 7 degrees Celsius. 
 
For this session, he set up his TV to watch a movie, and every five minutes he will immerse his head in the water to get a sense of what that feels like. 
 
“I think that will really help. Through the winter I did a tremendous amount of training in the cold, it was really tough, culminating in a 5-hour swim at about 13 degrees C. I was pretty happy about that at the time.” 
 
There may be a silver lining, one of his skippers told him last week that he has seen some bluefin tuna in the Strait. It’s a good sign because the fish apparently only appear when the water reaches 16 degrees. The skipper said that he had recorded some spots in Foveaux recently at that temperature. 
 
Jono is not concerned about what the temperature will be on the day of the swim. 
 
“You can’t control what the weather is doing, but you focus on the controllables like training, adaptation to the cold, pulling together your team and crew.’ 
 
He has put together a great crew. The pilot and boat crew is a father-son duo who fish in the area. The son has 30 years of experience and the father 50 years of local knowledge, they know the Strait well. The Oreti Surf Club is providing an IRB. On the boat as the neutral observer for the swim – a requirement in ultra-marathon swimming – will be Simon Olliver who swam the Strait in February 2017. 
 
The swim direction is unknown at this stage but is likely to be south to north, leaving off Saddle Point on the northeast part of Stewart Island and finishing on the back of Bluff hill. That was the same direction and starting point for Simon and Chloe. The reason for the S-N course is because there has been very good success in navigating the tides in that direction. ​

Jono has done his research, “If you time the tide right, I will start the swim in the last two hours of the flood tide, then in the middle of the Strait it’s flowing east to west with no real tidal advantage or disadvantage, it's more how you point yourself at that stage. The final stage is trying to find a suitable and safe landing point on the shore. At that stage, I will probably be towards the end of the second tide, the last of the ebb tide.” 
 
It will be the successful end of ten months of careful planning. The measure of success for Jono will be achieving a personal challenge that also brings rewards. 
 
“You have to put in the yards in training to get your body in shape, but you have to be really tough in your mind as well. There’s that part of it; the other part is there is a crossover with swimming and other areas of life. It gives you a lot of self-confidence to take on other challenges. There’s a lot of parallels that I find now with other things like business or relationships with what I’m doing now. Lastly, and more importantly, I’ve seen as a result of things that I’ve taken on has inspired other people to take on similar challenges. That’s been really cool to be able to see that what I’m doing is having an impact and being able to guide others from my experience. That is very rewarding for me.” 
 
Swimming wasn’t Jono’s first love. He grew up playing tennis and football and dabbled in running. He was training for a marathon in 2014 when he got a nasty case of Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS) that developed into other injuries. That’s when he retired from football and gave up running and started to focus on swimming. 
 
In 2016 he swam his first 10km distance. Jono came to like swimming long distances and he began to wonder what he could do next. That led to a chat with Philip Rush, and Jono soon signed up to swim Cook Strait. From there, everything fell into place. 

"I always wanted to do distance endurance stuff. I thought it would be running but it was not to be." 
 
We wish Jono well on the swim. We will talk with him again after Foveaux and we look forward to bringing that report.
 
 
End
 

Plan B it was for The Cold Tour today on Day 4 and the final day of the tour. Everyone had been looking forward to the Milford Sound trip and the swim to Stirling Falls. We also planned to fly by helicopter to Lake Quill in the Fiordland National Park for a quick swim. It was not to be. High wind and low visibility put an end to the dream finish to the tour – so we thought. 
 
So, we boarded Air Milford’s latest addition to their 5-plane fleet, a 10-seater Cessna Caravan ZK purchased new in 2016 direct from the factory in Wichita, Kansas. The seating arrangement today had me sit directly behind the pilot with Kerren directly across, Simon was in the co-chair. Duncan, the mouthpiece and laugh-machine of the tour sat behind me and the ladies occupied the rest of the seats behind us. It was a squeeze with all our luggage, but everyone had a window view. 
 
Our pilot today is Antony (Ant) Sproull, GM and Chief pilot of this beautiful family airline. Air Milford was founded by Ant’s father Hank who still works the business and helped load our gear. The airline has a 100% safety record with all aircraft being personally maintained by the owners. 
 
There is a connection between Air Milford and Samoa, Ant told me that he flew to Samoa with his father Hank in 1992 to purchase a topdressing Cessna from the Samoa Government. That aircraft was a casualty of Cyclone Valelia (1991) and they picked up a bargain. Ant told me that he sat in the co-pilot’s seat as a little boy next to his father flying that plane which was repaired and sold for a nice little margin.  The profit from the sale helped launch Air Milford in 1998. 
 
There were plenty of similar stories from Ant as he flew us to Te Anau. He showed us where his grandfather camped on the shores of Lake Te Anau hunting game and he told of how his father would drop him and sibling off sometimes at a remote lake to fish and play while Hank went off to do a job.  That was his childhood. He has been in aviation ever since. 

John Key got it wrong. Had he campaigned to change the name of the country instead of the flag, he may have had a better Cause and chance at succeeding. After all, change the name of the country and a new flag is a certainty. 

Let's cut to the chase, in my view the name of this country will be changed within 30 years and none too sooner.
 
New Zealand for a name of this beautiful land of ours is a crime on all kiwis. The name is meaningless. 

If rewarding first explorers and discoverers by naming landmarks they found in their honour then Kupe, who is credited with the first sighting of these lands and named it Aotearoa has been overlooked to put it mildly. It was Kupe and the occupants of the seven Waka who first discovered these shores. 

There is more, the Maori descendents of the same first discoverers were living here when European ships first arrived. They lived and died, explored the land and settled the whenua. Children were born, battles were fought, victories were made and history created - for several hundred years. And they gave names to land, mountains, rivers and shores for several hundred years before Abel Tasman and James Cook arrived. 

In that regard, all the foreign names ascribed to landmarks in the colonial discovery era of two-hundred years between 1600 and 1800 for these regions are also redundant. The late arrivals - Tasman, Cook and others came to lands that were already discovered. 

 
Given our rich past, the name New Zealand has no connection at all with the land, the people and its long history. It is neither Maori nor British, the two peoples whose combined history has made this country what it is today. 
 
The name New Zealand sounds distinctly un-kiwi in its entirety. Say it out loud and hear it for the first time in the context of this discussion, and watch yourself cringe at the Zee sound. 
 
It is one of only two current words that I know of in the Kiwi vernacular with the letter “Z”. The other is buzzy-bee, a children’s toy. 
 
The folks who named our country did so from 16,000 miles away not having set foot on these shores or seen the makeup of the land. 
 
They were cartographers who took charge of maps and drawings supplied by Abel Tasman at the end of his journey of 1642. 
 
Then, Tasman was the first European to set foot on Kiwi soil; he named these isles Staten Landt on the premise that it was connected to the southern tip of South America. 
 
When Tasman returned to the Netherlands, mapmakers realised his error – Staten Landt was already taken and the new European discovery was a long way from Cape Horn. 
 
And thinking the two islands – north and south – looked like their own North Sea land, the cartographers who were charged with Tasman’s maps saw that the new discovery was nowhere near the South American contintent promptly renamed it after a province in Zeeland. 

This is a bigger crime, the country we inhabit was named by map makers who had not set foot on terra. 
 
One-hundred years later when Dutch seafaring was on the wane and British exploration on the rise, James Cook arrived here in 1770 on the first of his three sailings. Cook Anglicised the name to New Zealand – but still a Dutch name. 
 
The Dutch, being first in these parts also named the east coast of what is now Australia, New Holland. 
 
At least the Aussies had the decency to change the name of that continent to Australia, meaning the great southern landmass it was. 
 
Of recent times there have been a shedding of colonial names in favour of connection of meaning. 
 
Other name changes from colonial days include Vanuatu for New Hebrides, Samoa for Western Samoa, Kiribati for Gilbert Islands and Hawaii for Sandwich Isles.  
 
All the while we continue to retain a foreign name that has no connection or relevance to the land and the people. 
 
If the Dutch had settled these isles themselves, then maybe Nova Zeelandia might be appropriate for a name. 
 
But they did not, and so have no connection to the heatbeat of the place. 
 
The crime is, and still is – there are very good and appropriate Kiwi names for the land, names that were born of time and place.  
 
Names that have a connection, a spiritual meaning and historical relevance to the events that took place here. 
 
Increasingly in protest, I refer to New Zealand as Kiwiland. It is Maori and British.
 
We seem to lack for originality when it comes to naming landmarks. We have North Island and South Island, the most significant landmarks that define us yet without world recognised names. 
 
Every other single island around the country has a name but the two obvious landmasses that define us - these places with deep historical connection to the people and the many events that took place since the first arrivals. 
 
There are other examples of meaningless names for significant kiwi landmarks – Auckland City for example was named after George Eden first Lord of Auckland who, as far as I know did not set foot anywhere near the Pacific let alone on these shores. 
 
Yet Eden gets a mountain named after him and the city. 


Naming landmarks in this fashion is a crime. When Cook sailed down the east coast of the country in early 1770 and saw a big mountain in the Taranaki region he pointed to it and named it Egmont after the 2nd Earl of Egmont, John Perceval. The tangata whenua who lived and toiled here had already named the same mountain Taranaki. In academia, first discoveries get naming rights. Failure to do so amounts to fraudulent activity. The same can be said for the name of this country.


We have of course a worthy name for the country – Aotearoa. It was borne of time and place by actual settlers of the land. The same can be said for the city that is Tamaki Makaurau (Tamaki of a thousand lovers referring to the many volcanic cones that define the city). 

The shedding of colonial names by countries around us was in order to return identity of place to the people who actually lived in those lands.  
 
Samoa, meaning Sacred Centre (of the universe) is simply Samoa. Removing the colonial title of West returns Samoa to what it is – a country named by Samoans.   
 
Similarly Vanuatu - meaning a Land (vanua) of Truth (derives from Standing firm as in tu). The timeless home of the Vanuatu people is simply that, Land of firm belief and standing. 
 
We are increasingly searching for authenticity. Going back to origins and meaning. We continue to ask, where did we come from and what is our identity. 
 
Our identity is Kiwi, Maori and Pakeha.
 
All the more reason to rename our place appropriately by ditching the Zealand. It has no connection to the history, culture, wairua or spirit of these lands.  
 
 
 
END 
​

London Olympian Steven Kent of Coast Swimming won race two of the O Swim Autumn series at Long Bay on Saturday. The former NZ representative with a time of 40:59 for the 3 km distance pipped current New Zealand representative, Sebastien Priscott (41:01) of the Waterhole club West Auckland to win a close race. 

The two went toe-to-toe around the 1 km triangular course, in the end, Kent's sprinting experience secured him the win. Priscott is a national champion in his own right, he won the Epic 10 km open water in Taupo in January. 

Kent and Priscott were competing in the first race after lockdown with thirty other swimmers. Finishing third was 15-year old, Alex Dunkley. The race at Long Bay was the only live sporting event held in Auckland on the weekend. 

The first ocean swim event in Alert Level 2 was well controlled. Swimmers started ten at a time and fifteen minutes apart. 

Ella Crowe, 15, won the women's 3 km race. Another teenager Elizabeth Brennan was the winner - overall - in the 2 km race; and Grace Crowe (U13) won the all-female lineup in the 1 km distance.

The other meaningful tussle of the morning was between two thirteen-year-olds, Jack Potier and Palepua Afoa; Potier took out this race by a good margin. 

The Long Bay race was the first swim for most swimmers after the 7-week lockdown. It was a chance "to blow out the cobwebs" in perfect sea swimming conditions. 

The autumn series has three more races to go; race three is at Maraetai on Sunday. The last two races are on Queen's Birthday weekend at St Heliers and Browns Bay. The series includes a Swim-Run event at Orewa on Sunday 31st May.


END

​At the end of the IBO list of Boxing Champions you will see the name Anthony Joshua as the current IBO title holder. Before him is Andy Ruiz JR who held the belt for six days over six months, then it is back to Joshua who took ownership of the belt in April 2017 until he lost it to Ruiz on June 1, 2019. 
 
There are great names on that list and about fourth from the top is the name Jimmy Thunder of New Zealand. He was the fourth fighter to hold the prestigious belt that would adorn future IBO champions. Impressive names like Wladimir Klitschko, Lennox Lewis who won it twice, Hassim Rahman, Tyson Fury and of course the great Anthony Joshua. Jimmy Thunder was a forerunner in that mix. He is the only Samoan and New Zealander to have won the IBO world title.    
 
Th​at was his second ​world title​, one year earlier ​Thunder had won the vacant WBF Belt against Melton Bowen of Australia. The fight in Townsville was a short affair with a TKO win to Thunder in round five. He had become a world champion. But Thunder would duly lose the belt four months later to Johnny Nelson who is the current UK Sky Sports Boxing ​expert ​commentator. 
 
The link from the present to Jimmy Thunder in 1993 is a well-connected one particularly with Nelson as a​n​ expert ​media man​. ​He tells a great story of his time in Auckland for the fight with Jimmy Thunder, it’s a warm tale of Nelson from ​Sheffield, ​UK being welcomed to Auckland by Samoan fighters who sparred with him in preparation for the Thunder fight. Nelson told that story ​in the lead up to the JoshuaParker fight in Cardiff where the IBO belt, with Thunder as former champion was up for grabs. 
 
Thunder ​did ​pave the way for fellow Samoans David Tua and Joseph Parker in the heavyweight division. He was the first Samoan heavyweight world title holder. He was the first Samoan fighter to be embraced by the New Zealand public for his exploits in the ring. Tua, who was also born in Samoa followed suit and Parker who is Kiwi born now continues the Samoan-Kiwi boxing legacy ​that started with Thunder. 
 
Thunder’s style of raw power and speed was entertaining and mesmerising. He holds the record for the fastest KO in heavyweight history. Thunder's skill-set in the hands of a modern trainer together with a marketing guru like David Higgins or Eddie Hearn would have been a fantastical proposition for the sport and for Thunder. He achieved so much with just pure talent and a fearless heart without the trimmings of modern boxing. 
 
The IBO fight will remain one of Thunder’s biggest achievements. He fought Richard Mason of the USA in Atlantic City. Thunder and Mason were of equal status, 21 wins each and 28 and 27 years of age respectively. Thunder had one more loss than Mason but with a higher KO rate. On the night Mason posed a significant 8cm height advantage (196cm /188) and a longer reach by 3 inches. The fight went the full twelve rounds with all three judges awarding the fight to Thunder 114-113, 116-111 and 115-112.  

The other big prize for Jimmy Thunder was his Gold Medal performance at the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games (1986). He went up against local hero Douglas Young in the heavyweight final. Thunder was troubled early on by the imposing Scot before he dropped Young with a short and powerful right to the jaw. The Scot was out, Thunder won the fight and boxing gold for New Zealand. The last fight in the ring that night was the superheavyweight title fight. It was Lennox Lewis of Canada who won superheavyweight gold, both men, Thunder and Lewis would become IBO Boxing champions.
 
One of Thunder’s big performances of his career was the NABF title fight against John Ruiz (1997). The belt had a rich history of greatness with all the greats like Leroy Jones, Ken Norton, George Foreman and Muhammad Ali as champions. The Ruiz fight went the full twelve rounds with Ruiz winning in a split decision (115-112, 116-111, 112-115). Five years later in 2002, David Tua won the NABF belt and held it for a time. 
 
Then followed the one event in Boxing history that will forever be emblazoned with Jimmy Thunder’s memory. The very next punch he threw after the Ruiz fight set his legacy forever. The match-up was​ against Crawford Grimsley​ in Flint, USA and took place​ exactly​ two months after the Ruiz loss​.​ ​ This was a one-punch fight and it immortalised the name "Thunder" for Jimmy Peau.
 
The two fighters had just taken in the referee’s instructions, touched gloves, returned to their corners and headed straight back into the middle for the dance.  Grimsley began to pose for a long night in the ring. Thunder returned too​,​ to the middle and casually let fly with a powerful right swinging cross. The punch connected with the unprotected Grimsley’s left temple.  The fight was over, Grimsley was out cold on the canvass. Time-gone was less than 10 seconds​​. The record books would show 13 seconds for the KO because the referee attempted to count Grimsley out when it should have been stopped right there and then. Thunder had just fought the shortest fight for both men with Grimsley not throwing a single punch. Grimsley was no slouch, he came into the fight with a 20-win record and a solitary draw, no losses, on the night he met Thunder’s right hand. 
 
Thanks for the memories Ti’a James Senio “Thunder” Peau. 

Boxing Record 
Professional record 1989-2002
49 fights - 35 wins-14 losses-0 (28 wins by KO) 
Last fight, 6 Dec 2002

Amateur record - 88 wins from 97 bouts. 
Trained by Gerry Preston

Before the Gilbert oval was hoisted high into the heavens at Yokohama Stadium on Saturday evening last to begin the do-or-die Rugby World Cup (RWC) semi-final match against the mighty All Blacks, Manu Tuilagi’s fans in Samoa and around the world already knew that he would play a crucial role in England’s win over New Zealand. 
 
That he did. There was no need to be at all concerned that the All Blacks had more Samoans playing for New Zealand than for England. All eyes were on Manu, the lone Samoan warrior on the England side.
 
Even if the fans watching the game at the Tanoa Tusitala Hotel hotel in Apia late on Saturday night had vested interest in both camps. 
 
The premonition was foretold in his name. 
 
And the omen was true. Leading the charge against New Zealand was Tui-a-lagi, the son of Earth and of the high Heavens. That’s the meaning of the surname. 
 
Tuilagi in Samoa legend is a resident of the earth who fought his battles in the sky. He is beyond mere mortals.
 
That promise is inseparable in the person of Manusamoa, and he is indeed inescapable of that destiny.
 
No other rugby player of Samoan origin of current RWC squads is burdened with such promise and intuition. 

Manu carries with him all the foreboding legends of the past. He was born during the 1991 RWC where his brother Fred was a hero playing for Manu Samoa in the slaying of the Welsh dragon alongside Samoa legends Papali'itele Peter Fatialofa, Pat Lam and Muliagatele Brian Lima. Fred, who also now holds the title Lauaki, and Brian were only 19 years of age. 
 
The new Tuilagi heir, youngest of seven children was duly named Manusamoa meaning fearless warrior. 
 
The surname Tuilagi is of high-chiefly heritage in his village of Fatausi on the island of Savai’i and indeed in all of Samoa. 
 
And if that was not enough, Manu was bestowed the high titles of Namulau’ulu and Lauaki by his extended family.
 
Samoan chiefly titles are conferred in recognition of character. In Manu’s case, he was not only destined for the roles but has proved his worth.
 
In Samoa’s short history, Manu’s forebear Namulau’ulu Mamoe Lauaki was the leader of the political Mau Movement.
 
He led the resistance that opposed the Germans to their face in those ugly colonial days when Samoa’s future was decided in Berlin in 1899 by Germany, the United States and Britain.
 
Germany was to rule Western Samoa and Eastern Samoa was given to the United States. Britain was already lording it over the islands of Fiji. 
 
Namulauulu Lauaki was a voice against German guns. But he fought on to rid Samoa of foreign rule.
 
For his role in the resistance Lauaki was exiled by the Germans to Saipan, a remote island in the western Pacific in 1909. He would never see Samoa again. Namulau’ulu died in exile in 1915, sadly on the return trip home.

He had won the war. Germany was no longer rulers of Samoa having been booted out in 1914 at the start of WWI. 

He was equally devastating the week before in the quarterfinal game against Australia with England winning 40-16. Manu handled the ball twice in the move that led to England's first try. 

But then he slipped a tackle on his opposite Samu Kerevi in the 20th minute of that game. That was a blip and not the norm - it speaks of his human side for sure. 
 
Against the All Blacks, Tuilagi was the best of the Samoan players on the field that included the indomitable Sonny Bill Williams, Anton Lienert-Brown, Ardie Savea, Patrick Tuipulotu, Angus Ta’avao, Richie Mo'unga and Nepo Laulala.

It was the same in the Australian game laced with Samoan talent in Scott Sio, Allan Alaalatoa, Jordan Petaia, Jordan Uelese, Christian Leali'ifano and Matt To'omua. But watch out for young Petaia, he has the goods. 
 
Manu played on mightily in the unlikely win over the All Blacks, 19-7. The All Blacks were made to look like mere mortals. 

Manu was the last of the substitutes to be made in the 73rd minute, the same time he was subbed the week before against the Wallabies. But by then, all redemption for the All Blacks, as it was for the Wallabies was made null and void.
 
England won yet another battle with Tuilagi having played out of this world.
 
There is one more battle remaining for the Webb Ellis Cup. Tuilagi will again don all the war weaponry of his heritage in order to vanquish South Africa in the RWC final in Tokyo.
 
The war is almost won and the promise fulfilled.

​The XVI Pacific Games came to a stunning successful conclusion in Apia late on Saturday evening. It ended two weeks of competition that brought together 23 countries in the region. 

The Games put big smiles on 984 athletes faces who received 322 Gold, 321 Silver and 341 Bronze medals across 26 sports.

New Caledonia once again dominated the medals tally with host nation Samoa finishing third. Papua New Guinea has maintained their success in all sports when the country hosted the last Games in 2015 by finishing second with 130 medals.

The closing ceremony on Saturday night was a scene of celebration and brought to the end Samoa's successful hosting of the Games the country took on with only 14 months notice when Tonga pulled out of hosting this year's games.

It was a fortnight that was not without controversy.  Samoa protested the involvement of transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, who denied two Gold medals to Samoa's women lifters. 

The issue of transgender participation is being reviewed for the next Games in the Solomon Islands in 2023. 

The other critical issue is the increasing involvement of New Zealand and Australia as they seek to become full members of the Games. Full membership appears to be only a matter of time, it will happen as  early as 2027 if not in 2023 at the next Games. 

This will make the Pacific Games - probably with a new name - a truly continental gathering of athletes from around Oceania. The other upside is the direct qualification of athletes at the new games for the Olympics and other global competitions.

When that happens New Caledonia's domination of the medals table will change. The level of competition will again be raised to a much higher level, offering a true measure of world standards for Pacific athletes. 

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