Brumbies and Western Force back rower Tamaiti Horua disappeared from Australian Rugby when he moved to Ulster (Northern Ireland) from Perth at the end of the 2009 Super Rugby season.
It spelt a familiar tale of low key exits for the New Zealand-born, Melbourne-raised Horua, who had spent two years in Japan halfway through his Super Rugby career a decade before it became fashionable to do so. When injury brought an end to his professional Rugby career in Belfast, Horua returned to Western Australia but swapped the scrum cap for a hard hat, and re-invested in his love of AFL as a fan who was fairly removed from Rugby.
Fast forward a few years and Horua is back in Melbourne and, coincidentally, working as a Health Safety Environment (HSE) Coordinator for Buildcorp, a company who have been heavily involved in Club Rugby across multiple states for many years and are now the naming rights and major partner of the National Rugby Championship (NRC).
“We moved back to Melbourne late last year, as my wife and are both from here and this is where we wanted to raise our young son,” Horua explains. “I took a full time role doing consultancy work when we first got back here but it wasn’t really for me, so I reached out to a recruitment agency who had a pre-existing relationship with Buildcorp; I’m sure the fact that I’ve played a bit of Rugby didn’t hurt (my chances of getting a job) and helped me get my foot in the door!
“Buildcorp are great supporters of the game, and even in Melbourne our office is kitted out with pictures of Rugby; I’ve got a photo of (former Brumbies teammate) Jone Tawake actually staring me in the face while I sit at my desk!
“I read the other day that our partnership with Sydney Uni Rugby Club is around 25 years old. They’re Rugby-mad as an organisation and do a lot to support Club Rugby; they’re a great organisation to work for.”
Making such a seamless transition into life after Rugby was never a given for Horua however, and he admits that he was not well equipped to move into the workforce when a back career ended his career early.
“During the early stages of my career, (former Brumbies’ Player Development Manager Sue Crawford) used to have to chase me around the building to get me to chat about further education; I was probably the poster child for what not to do,” he laughs.
“I did eventually start doing a few subjects as part of my Certificate III but I could and should have done a lot more, and then when my back started playing up I had the immediate realisation that I hadn’t done what I should have done and that I needed to knock off a lot of study, very quickly. I worked really closely with RUPA and (General Manager, Player Development) Rosemary Towner post-football to establish what my options were and what support was available, and that helped me to try and close the gap as quickly as possible by completing an Advanced Diploma in Occupational Health & Safety.
“I guess I assumed that a sponsor or somebody like that would help me when I reached the end but it didn’t pan out that way. With the benefit of hindsight, I would recommend that even if you don’t know what you are going to do, which is absolutely fine, do something! Although your networking may help you get your nose in the door in the future, you’re still required to have some sort of competency to add value to a company and they won’t just take anybody… I didn’t necessarily have a good grip on that when I was playing.”
While Horua wasn’t granted a fairy-tale finish to his career, he still achieved plenty considering he was raised in a non-Rugby heartland, and made plenty of good friends along the way.
Signing for the Brumbies straight out of high school in Victoria, he also represented Australia at both Under 19 and Under 21 level, captaining the latter. He made 48 Super Rugby appearances with the Brumbies (2001-2005) and Western Force (2007-2009), scoring 9 tries in the process, , winning a Super Rugby title in 2004 and winning the Try of the Year at the 2003 John Eales Medal awards night.
“I was born in New Zealand and my parents were both Rugby tragics,” Horua explains. “My old man played at Moorabbin Rugby Club when we first moved to Australia in 1988, and I watched him play and always wanted to do the same. As luck would have it, I made a couple of junior rep sides and when I finished school the Brumbies and Eddie Jones picked me up on a training contract; I didn’t really have a Plan B so I was pretty lucky!”
And it didn’t take long for him to get a quick lesson in the required professionalism.
“I moved into Canberra’s Oakford Apartments with just my suitcase; I’d never lived out of home before and I was feeling more than a little out of my depth! I didn’t realise I would stand out by carrying a slab over my shoulder into the apartments when I first showed up, but there were a few weird looks from my new teammates who also lived there, and thinking back to it now I don’t know what I was thinking!
“Going into that team at the time, there were so many good players and it couldn’t have been any better for a young kid like me to get blooded into a professional program. While I was starting out, playing for Vikings in Canberra Club Rugby was brilliant and they had a great set up; I really enjoyed my time in Canberra.”
From Canberra, Horua moved to Nagoya to join Toyota Rugby Club, a wonderful experience but one that showed his perceptions of professionalism had certainly changed since he’d first arrived in Canberra!
“I left what was a great set up at the Brumbies to move to Japan, and one that at the time was my only exposure to a professional system,” he explains. “I expected it would just be the same at Toyota and while there were great people at the Club, I remember going down with a sprained ankle in my first game and the medical staff ran out and just put some salt on it!
“There were a lot of good sides to playing in Japan such as the travel, culture and money, but the professionalism just wasn’t there nearly a decade ago and in hindsight I did go too early, and I was lucky enough that when I put the feelers out about a return to Australia (then Western Force Head Coach) John Mitchell gave me a call and I moved to Perth.
“It was a bit of a strange time at the Club and there was some interesting stuff happening off the field, but there were some really good players and I really enjoyed my time at the Force.”
Horua made 19 appearances and settled in Perth so well that it was an easy decision to head back there when he eventually worked out what he wanted to do after Rugby.
“Perth’s a great place to live; it’s like a big country town on the coast,” he says. “After I finished playing, I started a construction cadetship in Melbourne and that was when I decided to focus on the safety side of things in the construction industry. Eventually, through some contacts I managed to secure a short-term contract back in Perth with Rio Tinto. They are a great company and we had a few great years over there before moving back to Melbourne.”
The Melbourne Rebels weren’t around while he was growing up in Victoria and Tamaiti admits that he’s more likely these days to head to the MCG than AAMI Park.
“I don’t watch a lot of Rugby these days; I just find myself screaming at the TV like an old Rugby tragic when I do, and that’s not what I want to do too much of! Growing up in Melbourne, I’m right into my Aussie Rules and my team Hawthorn are going fairly well at the minute.
“My son is two and starting to get really active and become a lot of fun, so spending a lot of time with him and my wife is really my priority, but I’m hopefully going to get involved with St. Kevin’s College helping coach a little bit of Rugby which will be great.”
