‘Untouchable’ Molitika proves value of hard graft

It’s been over 30 years since Molitika, now 46, left a life of “hardship and graft” in Tonga to move to New Zealand to stay with his beloved grandmother, Nena, and his auntie and uncles whose influence he still feels today. His special abilities as a player took him across the world, from Japan to Italy, but there’s only one place he now calls home: Wales.

As a youngster in Hamilton, he once crossed paths on the pitch with Warren Gatland, while current England defence coach John Mitchell was in charge of his local club, Fraser Tech. It was in New Zealand that Molitika truly started to learn the game, starting at Huntly College on the Waikato River. At Hamilton Boys, the famous rugby factory that has produced countless All Blacks, he played alongside Black Caps cricketer Scott Styris.

For all his talent, Molitika’s international call-up was something of a fluke. “I’d gone back to Tonga in 1996 to see the family, and one of my mates happened to be in the national squad. He said, ‘Come and train with the team,’ so I went along and was happy just holding the pads.

“One of the coaches asked my mate, ‘Who is this guy?’ He replied that I was over from New Zealand, so they invited me to the next session. I ended up being on the bench against the New Zealand Maori!” It was the first of 18 international caps for the flanker.

“Mark Cooksley, my teammate for Fraser Tech, was playing in the second row opposite me for the Maori. The test match was just after we’d won the Waikato club competition together under John Mitchell.”

Also in the Tongan team that day at Teufaiva Stadium in Nuku’alofa were three members of the Vunipola family. In his next match against Zimbabwe, Molitika packed down with Kuli Faletau. The following year, 1997, Tonga embarked on a tour of the UK that set in motion a significant influx of Islander talent to the game in this country.

“It was a big tour, and we played against Wales,” says Molitika. “We also played against Bridgend, and there was a Welsh guy travelling with us who was an agent. He asked if I wanted to come back and play over here.”

Bridgend were clearly willing to play the long game, because a whole two years went by before his arrival at the Brewery Field. “When I first arrived, I was nervous. I didn’t know anyone here. Kuli and Josh Taumalolo were already over here playing for Ebbw Vale, but there was no one in Bridgend. I missed home and it was hard being on my own, but I loved Wales. Like the Kiwis, people here are just so friendly.”

It was 1999 and Wales were the host nation for the Rugby World Cup. Had Molitika not gone along to that Tongan training session three years earlier, things might have turned out differently. “Graham Henry was coaching Wales at the time and he asked me if I was already capped, and I had to say yes,” he laughs.

In 2002/03, he helped Bridgend win the league for the first time, going undefeated at home and losing only twice during the campaign. Better yet, Molitika was the Ravens’ joint-top try-scorer, so it came as little surprise when he was chosen to be part of the new star-studded Celtic Warriors squad at the dawn of regional rugby.

A season with Harlequins preceded his move to Cardiff Blues, by which point he was already fully settled in Wales. “When I was at the Blues, not many of the boys had kids, whereas I had two older boys from a previous relationship,” says Molitika of Kalafi and Xander, who turn 20 and 18 respectively this year. “I loved every minute of my time there. I’m proud to look back and say that I played my part for them. To make the team and the city proud was incredible. We had a fantastic squad that achieved some great things.”

He alludes to that wild yet crushing penalty shoot-out loss to Leicester in Cardiff, but beams at the memories of the 2009 Anglo-Welsh Cup and 2010 European Challenge Cup victories.

His value to the Blues can be measured by how they reacted to losing him to Japan’s Top League in 2006. “Cardiff wanted me to stay, but in the end I’d already signed for IBM Big Blue, so they assured me that if it didn’t work out I was welcome to come back whenever I could. It was a great experience living just outside Tokyo, but when I needed to return to Wales for personal reasons, I called [chief executive] Bob Norster and he told me to just come back.”

His value as an on-field presence didn’t escape his teammates either, as Tom Shanklin can attest. “We were playing against Biarritz at Cardiff Arms Park in a big European game,” says the 70-times capped Wales centre. “Jerome Thion, the huge French second row, decided to have a little pop at Maama.” Two seconds later, recalls Shanklin, the Frenchman was on the floor. “I remember watching that and thinking, ‘Do whatever it takes to keep that man happy’. I never once tried to stitch him up or play a practical joke on him. Maama was untouchable.”

Molitika delighted in seeing another Cardiff Blues fan favourite of Tongan descent, Willis Halaholo, win his first Wales cap in this year’s Six Nations. “I’m really happy for Willis. He was obviously unlucky before [Halaholo suffered a knee injury following his first Wales call-up], but credit to him: he worked hard and took his chance. With the ability and skillset he’s got, he can perform at the highest level. Hopefully he can get some more caps under his belt.”

Molitika’s retirement last year at the remarkable age of 45 received widespread media coverage. He’d been playing for Championship side Ampthill in Bedfordshire, helping the Paul Turner-coached side match their lofty ambitions in climbing up the leagues.

As well as keeping in fantastic physical shape, there’s been another key to his longevity. “I always enjoyed playing, otherwise it would have been pointless. At Ampthill, I still felt that I was competitive enough to be at that level, otherwise I would have struggled. The last thing I wanted was someone to run around me, or through me! Every year the club would say ‘one more year’…”

For seven years, he lived three different professional lives: regularly waking up at four AM for personal training sessions with clients in and around Barry; hitting the road before midday to coach rugby in the prestigious Harrow School in London; before finishing his day with Ampthill. That work ethic can be traced back to his early years in the village of Koulo, on the island of Haʻapai.

“It was hardship and graft back in Tonga,” he says. “I try to explain that to my two eldest boys who were born and bred here in Wales, because it’s totally different for them. I had to earn everything by working hard. I want them to do well in whatever they choose to do, and I’ll support them, but if they get given any chances in life I want them to work hard for it too.”

Now that he’s retired from the game and staying put in Barry, he can throw all his energy into Maama Molitika Fitness (although he admits to the joys of his three-year-old boy, Leni, “keeping me on my toes”). He sees it as a logical extension of his rugby life.

“The game is all I know and I put everything I had into it,” says Molitika. “I always enjoyed the fitness side of things, so I set up my personal training business. I’m in the process of building that and growing a client list. The pandemic has been frustrating, but that’s life.” His sessions are now mainly digital, whilst wife Helen’s boutique business, Box Edit, that had just opened in Barry’s popular Goodsheds has also had to go exclusively online for the time being. “People are enjoying the sessions and I enjoy helping them reach their goals and to keep active.”

In the longer term, he hopes to find a unit locally where he can set up his own gym. If so, he’ll likely be joined there by two other much-loved former Cardiff Blues, Nick Williams and Fa’ao Filise, who also reside in Barry. “Nick and Fa’ao are big supporters,” says Molitika, who posts some of his sessions live on Instagram. “When we’ve been outside they’ve been doing my bootcamps. Things have been going well, touch wood.

“Life is good. The next chapter for me is spending quality time with my family, watching my youngest son growing up.”

You can follow Maama’s Instagram page here.