When Sofai Maka takes the field for his All Blacks Sevens debut in Dubai this weekend he will wear the unusual number of 81 on his jersey.
“All the numbers I wanted were pretty much taken from the boys so I thought I’d represent where it all started for me, my old school,” Maka told RugbyPass.
“Back at school is when I realised I wanted to take rugby seriously and hopefully make it a job. I met the likes of Nigel Hurst who had the faith in me to pursue my dreams. I hope I can inspire other boys to chase their dreams.”
De La Salle College 81 Gray Avenue, M?ngere East, Auckland has an outstanding record of churning out quality rugby players. World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year Wallace Sititi captained the First XV in 2020. Brothers Cody and Kitiona Vai are All Blacks Sevens members and Maka is hoping to put South Auckland in the international spotlight again.
“De La Salle is a pretty low-key place. We don’t the get recognition we deserve but that doesn’t stop us from working hard and believing in the dream.”
Sititi famously said, “We’re not a posh school.” Sir John Kirwan is an old boy as is former All Blacks Sevens gun Sherwin Stowers (42 tournaments, 2004-17) who will coach the First XV in 2025.
A hard-running wing, Sofa shares similar attributes to Stowers.
“I don’t want to overplay. I want to stick to my strengths which are ball carry, beating players one-on-one, sticking to the system on defense, making my tackles, and extra effort plays,” Sofa said.
“This tournament will be important for us, we’ve got a lot of boys injured so it’s for all the young boys to step up to the plate and hopefully provide some energy for the experienced boys who have been doing it for a while.”
In the off-season veterans Scott Curry, Tim Mikkelson and Sam Dickson retired. Moses Leo, Payton Spencer, Leroy Carter, Che Clark, Tepaea Cook-Savage and Fehi Fineanganofo have also left the side.
Andrew Knewstubb returns after the disappointing fifth-place finish at the Olympics and says “accountability” has been a key theme for the season ahead. Striving to be better on and off the field, even when away from the All Blacks environment, will hopefully translate into better results.
“We’ve got more freedom to talk to players more honestly so that can only be better for our growth,” Knewstubb said.
“If something is not good enough we’re not going to sweep it under the rug we’re going to take it front on.”
A fresh start lies ahead for the 14-times SVNS champions who were third in the series last year.
Maka will bring plenty of confidence and success with him. From the Blues Under-20s, he was capped three times by Auckland in the 2021 NPC.
In 2022 he was part of Manukau Rovers who won Auckland’s Gallaher Shield for the first time since 1973. The fairytale success is the subject of a Sky Sport documentary, ‘We the South.’
Auckland didn’t appear too interested in that success so Maka joined North Harbour. In the 2022 NPC, he played in four victories and scored two tries in a 27-24 win against Otago.
In 2023 Manukau was even better, repeating their success and achieving a 20-0 season. Rovers coach Doug Sanft, winner of 103 out of 116 senior club matches, is a former Samoan international and De La Salle old boy. His brother Quentin won the Bronze Boot award as the best player in the New Zealand Schools v Australia Schools Test in 1995 and also represented Samoa.
In 2024 Maka played his club rugby for Takapuna who were runners up to North Shore in the senior competition.
In the NPC Maka was productive scoring seven tries in seven games which caught the attention of All Blacks Sevens coach Tomasi Cama (World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year 2012).
“Sofai has the potential to become a great sevens player. We saw in the NPC he makes a lot of line breaks, scores a lot of tries; he understands the game well and with a few injuries in our midfield he gets his opportunity,” Cama said.
In Dubai, New Zealand is grouped with the USA, Spain and Fiji. Their head-to-head record against those opponents is: USA: 54-11, Spain: 17-2, Fiji: 59-61.
