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Saint Tauiwi of Rotorua
Joe Tauiwi
From the Bay of Plenty Times on
the
1st
of September 2001:
All of the
Bay of Plenty players who made Gordon Tietjens' national rugby
sevens teams had to train harder and work longer than anyone else to
justify their selection.
All, that is,
except Joe Tauiwi.
Tauiwi's skill for the
sevens game and flair with the ball in hand made him a natural.
Tauiwi, the father of two young sons Douglas and Jared, died last
Friday of cancer aged 34.
His vision
and creativity was best showcased on the international sevens stage,
with the hardworking halfback making his
New Zealand debut in 1994 in Fiji.
He was a key part of
New Zealand's three Hong Kong sevens titles from 1994-96, playing 69
games for the national sevens team, spanning 14 tournaments.
Tauiwi also
played in the World Cup tournament at
Hong Kong in 1997 and scored 173
points in total for New Zealand, 25 tries and 24 conversions.
His skill
also transferred to the 15-a-side game, where he played 63 games for
Bay of Plenty between 1989 and 1999, scoring 75 points.
Tietjens said that Tauiwi's part in
New Zealand's hat-trick of
Hong Kong
sevens titles in the mid-1990s could not be overstated.
"My
Bay of Plenty players always had to work a lot harder and perform
better than anyone else just to justify their selection but Joe's
justification was always in the way he played.
He was
someone who was always two or three steps ahead of the opposition
and always thinking four phases ahead of the play. His anticipation
was incredible.''
Tauiwi lay at Ngongotaha's Parawai Marae, where hundreds of friends
stopped in to farewell him.
Tauiwi's body
was taken back to Katikati's Terereatukahia Marae. His tangi was
followed by burial at
Tutaetaka Island.
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