Havili’s proud mumwatches a dream made real
Upon return from the World Rugby Under-20 Championship, David Havili had his New Zealand jersey framed for his mother, Jenny Bisley.
‘‘This will not be the only black jersey that I will wear,’’ he told her.
Bisley believed him. She always has believed that her son, a 22-year-old fullback from the Tasman Makos and the Crusaders, and a ‘‘shy boy’’ off the field, would become an All Black.
‘‘It’s that determination. One of his school teachers, he always said to her that ‘I’m going to be an All Black’ and she said ‘ we know, you’ve got the skill to be an All Black. You will be an All Black and we will see you in an All Blacks jersey one day.’ I always keep in contact with her and she always remembered that,’’ Bisley said.
On Sunday morning, Bisley invited a few friends and family members along to her house in Motueka to watch Havili realise his dream. He was substituted on to the field in the 70th minute, becoming All Black 1161 in their 36-10 win over Argentina. He even scored a try.
‘‘I’m very proud of him,’’ Bisley said after the match.
‘‘We have some friends and family here and we all just yelled and screamed. It’s amazing. Like the commentator said, it was going to go from Kieran Read to the halfback and then to David Havili.
‘‘It’s just so overwhelming. It’s really hard to think he is there.’’
Bisley said Havili called her prior to the game. It was 3am in New Zealand.
‘‘He didn’t know what the time difference was but he was very excited about it and he said he was ready.
‘‘He didn’t feel that nervous when he rang me. He seemed very happy. ’’
It has been well documented that Havili struggled to break into the school’s first XV during his days at Nelson College.
While he was disappointed at the lack of opportunities at the time, it will all be forgotten now that he is an All Black.
‘‘He was quite shy. But he had it in his mind that he had [the talent] there but he just had to work harder himself to show it.
‘‘When he trialled for the under20s and he only just missed out he was very, very gutted.
‘‘But he said to us ‘ I’m just going to work harder and try harder.’ And then we he got called into the team [as an injury replacement] it all just went really quickly from there.’’