Hame Faiva

Epalahame Faiva (born 9 May 1994) is a New Zealand-born Italian rugby union player who plays as a hooker for Hurricanes in Super Rugby Pacific.

Hame Faiva
Full nameEpalahame Faiva
Date of birth (1994-05-09) 9 May 1994
Place of birthAuckland, New Zealand
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Weight102 kg (16 st 1 lb; 225 lb)[1]
SchoolWesley College
Rugby union career
Position(s) Hooker
Current team Hurricanes
Youth career
2005–2009 Counties Manukau
2009–2013 Waikato
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2013–2017 Waikato 36 (35)
2017 Blues 6 (0)
2017–2022 Benetton 62 (115)
2022 Worcester Warriors 3 (0)
2023 Hurricanes 5 (10)
Correct as of 24 Sep 2022
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2013–2014 New Zealand U20 8 (20)
2021 Italy A 1 (0)
2021– Italy 7 (5)
Correct as of 19 Aug 2023

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] He played with Benetton until 2021−2022 season.[7][8]

He recently played for Worcester Warriors in Premiership Rugby[9] but had his contracted terminated along with every other Warriors player on 5 October 2022.[10]

In March 2023 he was named in Hurricanes squad for Round 5 of 2023 Super Rugby Pacific season. He played with Super Rugby franchise until the end of the season.[11]

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.[12][13]

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.[14]

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.[15][16]

On 22nd August 2023, he was named in the Italy's 33-man squad for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.[17]

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[16]

References
  1. "Hame Faiva player profile". rugbyworldcup.com. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  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. "A Fine Stagione Hame Faiva Si Trasferira' a Worcester". Benetton Rugby (in Italian). 13 April 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  8. "Il Benetton Rugby Saluta 10 Leoni". Benetton Rugby (in Italian). 20 May 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  9. "Warriors sign Italy hooker Hame Faiva". Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  10. "Worcester player and staff contracts terminated after high court ruling | Worcester | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  11. "Hurricanes named to take on Moana Pasifika on Saturday" (Press release). Hurricanes. 23 March 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  12. "Hame Faiva All Blacks Player Profile". All Blacks.com. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  13. "Waikato's Hame Faiva now on the right path". Stuff.co.nz. 14 September 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  14. "Italia A, gli azzurri convocati per il match contro la Spagna". FIR (in Italian). 14 October 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  15. "Italrugby, Gli Azzurri Convocati Per Le Autumn Nations Series". Italy Rugby Union (in Italian). 31 October 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  16. "Italy v Uruguay – Rugby Union". BBC Sport. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  17. "ITALIA, I 33 AZZURRI PER LA RUGBY WORLD CUP "FRANCIA 2023". Federazione Italiana Rugby (in Italian). 22 August 2023.
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