Hame Faiva

Epalahame Faiva (born 9 May 1994) is a New Zealand-born Italian rugby union player who plays as a hooker for Benetton in the United Rugby Championship.[1]

Hame Faiva
Full nameEpalahame Faiva
Date of birth (1994-05-09) 9 May 1994
Place of birthAuckland, New Zealand
Height1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight108 kg (17 st 0 lb; 238 lb)
SchoolWesley College
Rugby union career
Position(s) Hooker
Current team Benetton
Youth career
2005–2009 Counties Manukau
2009–2013 Waikato
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2013–2017 Waikato 36 (35)
2017 Blues 6 (0)
2017– Benetton 61 (115)
Correct as of 30 Apr 2022
National team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
2013–2014 New Zealand U20 8 (20)
2021 Italy A 1 (0)
2021– Italy 4 (5)
Correct as of 27 Feb 2022

Early career

Born and raised in Auckland, Faiva attended Wesley College in the city and while there played for the Eden Rugby Club before later trying out rugby league. During his time at Wesley College, he also played representative rugby for Counties Manukau before shifting south to Waikato where he was a member of their academy and also played under-20 rugby.[2]

Club career

Faiva made his senior debut for Waikato in a Ranfurly Shield defense against Heartland Championship side Horowhenua-Kapiti in July 2013, aged just 19.[3] He made his national provincial championship bow later in the year, but that was to be his sole appearance at that level in 2013. The following year brought more game time as he played 8 times and scored 2 tries as he began to establish himself as the Mooloo's first choice in the number 2 jersey. He subsequently played all 20 of Waikato's Premiership matches across the 2015 and 2016 seasons, 17 of these appearances came from the start and he also added 2 tries to his career total.[4] From 2013 to 2017, he played for Waikato in the Mitre 10 Cup.[3][4][5][2]

Several seasons of solid performances at provincial level were rewarded when he was named in the Blues squad ahead of the 2017 Super Rugby season.[5]

On 13 November 2017, Fava leaves home to sign for Italy team Benetton in the Pro14 from the 2017–18 season.[6]

International career

Faiva was a member of the New Zealand Under-20 sides which competed in the 2013 and 2014 IRB Junior World Championships. He scored 4 tries in 8 appearances as the Kiwis finished in 4th and 3rd place respectively.[7][8]

On the 14 October 2021, he was selected by Alessandro Troncon to be part of an Italy A 28-man squad for the 2021 end-of-year rugby union internationals.[9]

On the 31 October 2021, he was selected by Kieran Crowley to be part of an Italy 34-man squad for the 2021 end-of-year rugby union internationals. On 20 October 2021 Faiva made his debut for Italy, scoring a try in Italy's 17–10 win over Uruguay.[10][11]

International tries

As of 20 November 2021

Try Opposing team Location Venue Competition Date Result Score
1  Uruguay Parma, Italy Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi 2021 end-of-year rugby union internationals 20 November 2021 Win 17 – 10[11]

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 August 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Hame Faiva Blues Player Profile". Blues Rugby. Archived from the original on 9 August 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  3. "Hame Faiva Waikato Player Profile". Mooloo Rugby. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  4. "Hame Faiva itsrugby.co.uk Player Statistics". itsrugby.co.uk. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  5. "Blues 2017 Squad Guide" (PDF). All Blacks.com. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  6. "Epalahame Faiva signs for Benetton Treviso". Ultimate Rugby. 13 November 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  7. "Hame Faiva All Blacks Player Profile". All Blacks.com. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  8. "Waikato's Hame Faiva now on the right path". Stuff.co.nz. 14 September 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  9. "Italia A, gli azzurri convocati per il match contro la Spagna". FIR (in Italian). 14 October 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  10. "ITALRUGBY, GLI AZZURRI CONVOCATI PER LE AUTUMN NATIONS SERIES". Italy Rugby Union (in Italian). 31 October 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  11. "Italy v Uruguay – Rugby Union". BBC Sport. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
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