Little brother Senita continues Sione Lauaki’s legacy

TWENTY-THREE years after former All Black Sione Lauaki helped Kelston Boys’ High School last win the Auckland 1A division rugby title, his younger brother Senita Lauaki has done the same.

The school was named the 1st XV Auckland winner after the remainder of the season was called off because of the Covid-19 outbreak.

The team overcame a year of disruption from the pandemic, going on to be unbeaten in winning the title for the first time since 1998.

The 1998 team featured the likes of Sam Tuitupou, Mose Tuialii and Mils Muliana but the most significant connection to the 1998 team and the two titles are the Lauaki brothers.

Senita, who has ties to Uiha, Felemea, Faleloa and Hapai in Tonga, captained this year’s team and dedicated the win to his older brother who died in 2017, aged 35, from renal failure. Sione Lauaki played 17 tests for the All Blacks and was destructive in the front row as a flanker.

Four years after his death, the youngest Lauaki sibling was still coming to terms with his loss. Having helped win the title for

Kelston Boys’ High has been bittersweet.

‘‘I still miss him,’’ Senita Lauaki said from his Kelston home. ‘‘We were really close, everything I know about rugby I learned from Sione and my other brother, Epahalame.’’

Sione died during Senita’s first year at Kelston Boys’ High.

Senita has found ways of connecting with his older brother, walking the same corridors, representing the school in rugby and playing rugby in the same position. He said he wanted to continue his brother’s legacy. ‘‘I wasn’t really thinking about it until my sister told me at the beginning of the season that if we won, it would be creating history not just for Kelston, but carrying on Sione’s legacy as well.

‘‘To have him still here with us today would have been more meaningful.’’

Oldest of the Lauaki siblings, Paenga, said Senita and Sione Lauaki were close.

When Sione came back from Europe after he was diagnosed with kidney disease, it was Senita who helped look after him.

‘‘Senita was so young when Sione died and that came as a shock for him, especially having to start high school without his older brother there.

‘‘Sione was Senita’s first coach, teaching him everything he knew about rugby. He is following his older brother’s footsteps, and he’s connecting with Sione with everything that he’s doing. In a way it’s helping him heal as well.’’