New Zealand U20s profile: Marino Mikaele-Tuu

Above: Marino Mikaele Tuu playing in his Wellington Premier club rugby debut recently for Old Boys-University against the Upper Hutt Rams.

Marino Mikaele-Tuu has returned home as he pursues a professional rugby career. Born in Miramar, Wellington, he moved to Hastings when he was 11 years old, but presently resides in a Victoria University hostel as he balances his international business studies with rugby.

"I am contracted to Hawke's Bay and will return to Hastings for the NPC. I study a couple of papers in Wellington while training with the Hurricanes. I want to be a balanced man," Mikaele-Tuu explains.

Mikaele-Tuu comes from a family of hard workers. Dad is a building contractor, Mum is the manager of a retirement village and his twin brother Antonio is a midfield back contracted to Waikato.

"I miss my brother sometimes. It's the first time we haven't played together, though I often played a year up. We had some great backyard scraps," Mikaele-Tuu recalls.

Both twins were a welcome addition to the Hastings Boys' High School rugby since Marino made the First XV in 2013 as a Year 11 and admits his introduction to that level of rugby was difficult.

"We had some good players, but some of them thought they were above the First XV. They didn't show up to training and their effort was bad. We didn't have a very good season," Mikaele-Tuu laments.

Coaches Tony McBride and Jack Wiggins were instrumental in reversing Hastings fortunes.

"I owe Tony and Jack so much. They are really good coaches. I liked the way they involved the players in the decision making. Once we earned their respect we got a lot of say in how we played which make things fun," Mikaele-Tuu says.

Between 2006 and 2013, Hastings only won three Super 8 matches. In the past two seasons they have won seven times and achieved a top four finish in 2015, the first time they have finished in the top half of the table for a decade.

"My favourite game was beating Napier Boys' in 2014. We really smashed them in front of a big crowd and it was the first time in ten years we had beaten them", Mikaele-Tuu acclaims.
"We also beat New Plymouth at the Gully and that was on TV."

Significantly several Hastings players have been rewarded with representative honours. Players like Mason Kean, Keanu Kereru-Symes, Joe Walding-Karaitiana and Sanaila Waqa made a big impression at age group level and the latter has already played NPC for the Magpies.

Mikaele-Tuu was perhaps the impressive of the Hastings age-group performers. In 2014 he was selected for the New Zealand Barbarians and a year later was the starting No.8 for the New Zealand Schools.' He played in six matches and won them all though curiously he enjoyed his time with the Barbarians more than the New Zealand Schools.'

"The Barbarians culture was awesome. It's one of the best teams I have played for. We had a lot of laughs and built a tight bond real quickly. The New Zealand Schools' was good, but a little different and intense."

Last year in Palmerston North the two sides clashed and New Zealand escaped with a very narrow victory. Mikaele-Tuu believes its one of the toughest games he has ever played in.

"The Barbarians players had nothing to lose and everything to gain. They came out hard and really gave it to us whereas we might have been more concerned about avoiding injures and a bit complacent," Mikaele-Tuu concedes.

There was no sign of complacency in Australia. New Zealand scored their biggest victory in the annual test since 1995. Mikaele-Tuu played the full game and impressed with his physicality.

"My favourite players are Kieran Read and Akira Ioane. I like the way they dominate physically. Akira is only a few years older than me. I reckon it's awesome how well he has done. That competition really excites me", Mikaele-Tuu.

Old Boys University is another source of excitement for Mikaele-Tuu. The Jubilee Cup champions are on a 13-game win streak and have embraced Mikaele-Tuu quickly.

"The club has a real good culture. The boys would do anything for each other and we like to have a bit of fun," Mikaele-Tuu concludes.