Epalahame Faiva (born 9 May 1994) is a New Zealand-born Italian

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player who plays as a

hooker Hooker may refer to: People * Hooker (surname) Places Antarctica * Mount Hooker (Antarctica) * Cape Hooker (Antarctica) * Cape Hooker (South Shetland Islands) New Zealand * Hooker River * Mount Hooker (New Zealand) in the Southern Alps * Hoo ...

for

Bath Rugby Bath Rugby is a professional rugby union club in Bath, Somerset, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Founded in 1865 as Bath Football Club, since 1894 the club has played at the Recreation Ground in the c ...

Gallagher Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

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 Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

. During his time at Wesley College, he also played representative rugby for before shifting south to where he was a member of their academy and also played under-20 rugby.

Club career

Faiva made his senior debut for Waikato in a

Ranfurly Shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challeng ...

defense against

Heartland Championship The Heartland Championship competition, known for sponsorship reasons as the Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship, is a domestic rugby union competition in New Zealand. It was founded in 2006 as one of two successor competitions to the countr ...

side Horowhenua-Kapiti in July 2013, aged just 19. He made his national provincial championship bow later in the year, but that was to be his sole appearance at that level in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

. 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 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

seasons, 17 of these appearances came from the start and he also added 2 tries to his career total. From 2013 to 2017, he played for in the Mitre 10 Cup. 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 The 2017 Super Rugby season was the 22nd season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. It was the second season featuring an expand ...

. On 13 November 2017, Fava leaves home to sign for Italy team Benetton in the Pro14 from the 2017–18 season. He played with Benetton until 2021−2022 season. He recently played for Worcester Warriors in

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

but had his contracted terminated along with every other Warriors player on 5 October 2022. In March 2023 he was named in Hurricanes squad for Round 5 of

2023 Super Rugby Pacific season The 2023 Super Rugby Pacific season (known as Harvey Norman Super Rugby Pacific in Australia, Shop N Save Super Rugby Pacific in Fiji and DHL Super Rugby Pacific in New Zealand) is the 28th season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition ...

. He played with

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

franchise until the end of the season. On 17 November 2023, Faiva was signed by English side

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

with immediate effect on a undisclosed length deal, back in the

International career

Faiva was a member of the New Zealand Under-20 sides which competed in the

and

2014 IRB Junior World Championship The 2014 IRB Junior World Championship was the seventh annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in Auckland, New Zealand by rugby's governing body, World Rugby, then known as the Internation ...

s. He scored 4 tries in 8 appearances as the Kiwis finished in 4th and 3rd place respectively. On the 14 October 2021, he was selected by

Alessandro Troncon Alessandro Troncon (born 6 September 1973 in Treviso) is a former Italian rugby union player. Troncon is the 6th most capped player in Italian rugby union history, and the first Italian to gain 100 caps. The veteran scrum-half made his Italy deb ...

to be part of an Italy A 28-man squad for the

2021 end-of-year rugby union internationals The 2021 end of year rugby union tests, also referred to as the Autumn internationals in the Northern Hemisphere, were rugby union test matches during October and November 2021, mainly involving countries from the Northern Hemisphere hosting those f ...

. On the 31 October 2021, he was selected by

Kieran Crowley Kieran James Crowley (born 31 August 1961) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player, who is the head coach of Italy. He has also coached the New Zealand Under-19s in the 2007 World Championships as well as coaching provincial side T ...

to be part of an

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

34-man squad for the

. On 20 October 2021 Faiva made his debut for Italy, scoring a try in Italy's 17–10 win over

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. On 22 August 2023, he was named in the Italy's 33-man squad for the

2023 Rugby World Cup The 2023 Rugby World Cup is scheduled to be the tenth men's Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It is scheduled to take place in France from 8 September to 28 October 2023 in nine venues across the cou ...

International tries

''As of 20 November 2021''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Faiva, Hame 1994 births Living people New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union hookers Waikato rugby union players Rugby union players from Auckland People educated at Wesley College, Auckland New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent Blues (Super Rugby) players Benetton Rugby players Italian rugby union players Italy international rugby union players Worcester Warriors players Hurricanes (rugby union) players 2023 Rugby World Cup players Italian expatriate rugby union players in England New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in England