Roy Kinikinilau enjoying giving back to club rugby

Roy Kinikinilau's rugby career has come full circle.

He started at Oriental-Rongotai in the late 1990s as a young tearaway loose forward out of Rongotai College, then had an international sevens career spanning several years and a professional fifteens career that saw him play Super Rugby for three teams and then spend time in Japan.

Now he's back at his home club Oriental-Rongotai, helping out head coach Mason Lawrence and some weeks lacing up the boots playing the game he loves. But for how long?

"If I need to jump in there I will - but I'm primarily playing some weeks because of the lack of numbers at the moment, "he said.

"We had a whole of players who had come back but some have gone overseas, some to other provinces and some are injured. So when we're struggling a bit that's when I put my hand up to play.

"I don't mind - when I'm on the field I'm pretty competitive, but then I sit back afterwards and think why I do it.

When he's playing, he's definitely making his presence felt, as one of the most influential players in the competition.

Last weekend against Tawa, Kinikinilau, 36, consistently hit the advantage line hard, scored one try and set up the match-winner. For that he was judged the Player of the Day in a pressure-cooker 30-22 Jubilee Cup win.

"Sometimes it's better being out on the field than coaching, you can get your point better across being out there!"

He's still got the game and the desire to compete, him and current Ories captain and tighthead prop Whetu Henry (a school teacher) could probably walk into most Mitre 10 Cup squads and make a difference.

But Kinikinilau's priorities currently lie with his new job and he needs to stay fit for that.

He recently bought a bread delivery contract, a physical job. If he gets injured playing rugby then he can't do his job.

"I keep myself in good nick and am still fit, but the only thing that worries me now are injuries impacting work.

He returned from Japan in February last year.

"I was going retire and I also looked at going back overseas but I decided that's enough, I am just going to stay home."

The lure of rugby remained strong and he linked up with the Johnsonville club and Mason Lawrence in 2015.

"I live up the road from the Johnsonville club so it just made sense for me to go help them out instead of going all the way across town to Ories

"They were the same with Ories, struggling with numbers, so I helped out."

Last year for Johnsonville he started in nine games at either second five-eighth or centre and scored 13 tries.

He played his last game of professional rugby in 2014 in Japan.

He also played a bit of Sevens rugby for Wellington. "I wanted to see how my body went and was pretty keen on the Olympics. I went to a tournament in Australia with Wellington [the Central Coast Sevens], which had a lot of high quality players and I played at the regionals but didn't make nationals."

"I was training a lot for Sevens, but my body didn't agree with it."

Now co-coach of the Ories Premiers as well as playing some weeks, is coaching something he wishes to pursue?

"It's more like giving back to the community game. I don't really want to get into coaching fulltime just yet - it's helping the younger guys out that I enjoy doing at the moment."

Peeling back the years, In 2002 Kinikinilau and Ma'a Nonu scored 22 tries between them in Premier rugby for Ories.

Kinikinilau was No. 8 and Nonu was centre, and together they wreaked havoc.

"The year was memorable. There were a lot of teams that Ories beat that we hadn't defeated for a long time. We beat Petone for the first time in 13 years and made the Jubilee Cup semi-finals."

A positional switch from loose forward to the wing soon followed.

"I think the young boys are a bit surprised when I tell them that I used to play No. 8!

"Moving out was something new to me. I had gained a lot of confidence and extra skills playing Sevens. Making this move was my only way to get into Super Rugby so I just went along with it.

"It was hard coming from the rucks - like my first year I had to remember to stay on the wing rather than go into the rucks."

Kinikinilau played a combined 34 Super Rugby matches for the Hurricanes (2004), Highlanders (2006) and Chiefs (2007), and was a regular in All Blacks Sevens (2002-07) teams.

In 2007 he moved to the Ricoh Black Rams in Japan, where he spent several seasons.

He celebrated Ories winning the 2011 Jubilee Cup from afar.

"I kept in regular touch then through the Ories and Club Rugby websites and Facebook pages and my brother [Paula] played in that team as well. It was awesome to hear the news at the time that they had won.

"Ma'a then came over to Japan after the Rugby World Cup and we watched a lot of rugby together on TV and on the internet."

Brother Paula is in Romania, but is rehabbing a broken leg at present.

Asked for his thoughts on how the club game's changed since he first started and now after he has returned he cited the lack of depth. "There's a lot of talent, the competiveness is the same, but the skill level sometimes doesn't seem to be the same," he added. "But that could just be an old head talking!"

This coming week Ories play the Upper Hutt Rams at home. If they can win their fourth straight second round series match then they should safely qualify for the semi-finals with three weeks to spare.

"The talent's there, we will see how consistent we can be in the next few games." Kinikinilau concluded.