When Halani ‘Aulika stopped being a waisted talent

London Irish prop sensation Halani Aulika would have been lost to the game had it not been for a chance meeting on an Auckland petrol station with the brother of New Zealand hooker, Keven Mealamu.
Four years ago Aulika was in a mess. Having quit rugby two years earlier in favour of full-time work, a diet of fried chicken and an expanding waist-line had seen the talented former schoolboy star’s weight balloon to a barely credible 24st (152kg).
A career in professional rugby looked impossible but last Sunday, against Sale, Aulika, now 19st 9lb sprinted in from 40metres for his ninth try of the campaign to continue a remarkable renaissance as Irish’s top try scorer.
Aulika, 28, told The Rugby Paper: “Four years ago, I was just lazy and had given up. I stopped doing anything, ate whatever I wanted and put on loads of weight. Breakfast? KFC. Lunch? KFC. Dinner? KFC.
“It was a case of less muscle and more fat, but I’d had to give up rugby because I had kids at a young age and needed to work to support them. I worked for Pacific Steel, doing shift work in a furnace. The money was good, but the work wasn’t great.
“When I first started rugby in Tonga I was a winger. Then, after I moved to New Zealand, I played No.8 for Otahuhu, Keven Mealamu’s old club.
“I used to play with Keven’s brother, Luke, and after he became head coach at Otahuhu he saw me putting petrol in my car one day and asked me to come along to training. He said they needed a loosehead prop and that they could get me fit.
“At first I said No. I was so overweight I just couldn’t see it. But Keven insisted I came along as well and they made me lose weight. It was hard, with lots of running and trying to eat the right food, but eventually I started playing for their Premiers.
“I got down to 130kg (20st 7lb) and started scoring tries and playing well, so Auckland picked me for their B team and I was then signed by Otago. I gave up the steelworks and got back to playing full-time, which I still can’t really believe.”
Aulika impressed sufficiently to represent Tonga at the 2011 Rugby World Cup and, after a season with the Highlanders in Super 15, he was signed by Leeds in January 2012.
A move to London Irish soon followed and Aulika, now a trim 125kgs (19st 9lb), has played 25 times for the Exiles his season, 18 of them in the Premiership, while his try-scoring heroics have put a number of the club’s much-vaunted backs in the shade. His latest effort against Sale was a stunner as he burst through from deep, carrying the ball one-handed and slaloming to the line, leaving a trail of defenders lying in his wake.
“Top try-scorer – not bad, is it?” said Aulika. “That was my ninth, which is the same as I got for Otago, so hopefully I can get one more to beat my record.
“The lads give me a bit of stick but the wingers hate it because I’m making them look bad!
“But I’m really enjoying it and when I see the try-line I just want to pump my legs and get there. You get a lot of satisfaction from scoring tries and I know that my family will be watching me back home on TV and feeling proud about what I’m doing. Our pack’s improving all the time. The season’s been up and down but we’re getting there and when our pack gets on top, not many teams can stop us.
“Everyone’s been helping each other and, hopefully, we can finish this season well and look to improve again this summer going into next season.”
Fried chicken remains on the menu, but Aulika has worked out a compromise.
He jokes: “When I’m eating KFC I play good, but these days I take the skin off first!”
NEALE HARVEY