Big Ben savours Hamilton return

Big Ben Tameifuna warmly laughed off the notion of being test rugby’s heaviest player as he savoured his return to Hamilton for Tonga’s test with the All Blacks in their final weeks of preparation for the Rugby World Cup. The former Chiefs prop’s career has come full circle since leaving for France to join glamour Paris club Racing 92 in 2015, with the 28-year-old set to play his 12th test for Tonga on Saturday on his old home turf against an All Blacks team he said he “was pretty close” to representing.

At 140kg, the Auckland-born tighthead was then the heaviest member of the All Blacks squad when called up in 2012. However, he would never play a test for the country of his birth, so he sized up whether to play for France until Tonga came calling in 2017.

Before Tonga’s test in Wales last November, Tameifuna tipped the scales at 153kg and he blamed the weight gain on eating too many French delicacies – namely croissants and baguettes. That figure meant Tameifuna was considered the heaviest man in test rugby – then 2kg more than giant Timaruborn France prop Uini Atonio. Speaking at Tonga’s team hotel in Te Rapa, Tameifuna grinned and said his coaches had enforced a “strict diet” and he happily served up another charming take on his weight issues last year. “When you come home and go back to mum’s cooking, I went back to France a bit bigger than I should have,” Tameifuna said.

“It was a challenge because Tonga has lovely food.” Tonga have never beaten the All Blacks in five tests and are rank outsiders ahead of flying to Japan for a tough World Cup pool featuring England, France, Argentina and USA. But Tameifuna said it was a “great pool” and they start against England in Sapporo on September 22.