WAIKATO, 19 OCTOBER 2021 (STUFF NZ) – Sean Wainui won an age-group world championship title, and scored a record five tries in a Super Rugby game.
But nothing made Wainui as proud as playing for the New Zealand Māori side.
The Bay of Plenty and Chiefs winger died in a car accident in the Bay of Plenty on Monday. He was 25 years old.
Wainui said last year ahead of an outing for the Māori All Blacks against Moana Pasifika that having his dream come true in 2015 would likely never be topped.
“It’s a team I’ve dreamed to play for, as a little kid,” the Whatatutu-born utility back told Stuff.
“I always used to watch them, pretty much religiously.
“So to be able to make it my first time, back in 2015, was probably the best day of my life. And to be able to make it again, the feelings of excitement never go away.
“It’s so special for me because I get to represent my whanau, all my people. To be able to do that on the world rugby stage is just awesome. Proud as.”
He also told Stuff he was passionate about te reo Māori, but felt the language is not given enough acceptance by Kiwis who happily celebrate the haka.
“Everyone loves the haka and calls themselves a Kiwi, but that’s all from Māori culture, so why not learn it properly and connect with it on a different level?” Wainui said.
He had ties to the Ngāi Tuhoe, Te Āitanga a Māhaki, Ngā Ariki Kaiputahi and Ngāti Porou iwi.
Wainui rose quickly through the ranks after first being pegged as a promising teenager while playing as a midfield back at Takapuna Grammar.
He was selected as a Blues Development player in 2013 and then in the Chiefs Development squad the following year, alongside the likes of All Black Damian McKenzie, Lachlan Boshier, Whetukamokamo Douglas and Bryn Gatland.
His biggest admirer as a young player was coach Colin Cooper.
He signed the 18-year-old Wainui to play for Taranaki for the 2014 NPC season after impressing with the Chiefs development team.
“In one particular game, he really carved up against the Hurricanes. It is [a contract] probably earlier than he thought but it gives us a chance to grow him and develop him. We thought we might as well do that now because as soon as he gets on a stage, he’s going to be wanted,” Cooper said.
Wainui’s first setback came when a stress fracture in his foot forced him to spend 11 weeks over the 2014/15 summer in a cast. He feared the injury would cost him a chance of making the New Zealand under-20 team to contest the junior world championship, but he gained fitness in time to be a key member of the title-winning side.
The Crusaders grabbed him for the 2016 Super Rugby season under coach Todd Blackadder, before Cooper moved for him again at the Chiefs in 2018.
“They [Crusaders] didn’t want to re-sign me, which is fair enough, I didn’t take my opportunities down there, and other players were performing,” Wainui told Stuff.
“It was a real tough time, especially as I don’t have much family down in Christchurch, I was pretty much alone.”
In their final match of the trans-Tasman Super Rugby competition this year – after making the SR Aotearoa final – the Chiefs ran riot on the New South Wales Waratahs, winning 40-7 with Wainui dotting down for five of the side’s six tries.
He pushed aside all the praise heading his way directly after the final whistle.
“All I had to do was catch the ball and put it down, bro, the boys did all the mahi,” he told Stan Sport.
Current Māori All Blacks and Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan said Wainui was an incredibly talented individual.
“He held a great amount of mana among his fellow team-mates and the wider rugby community. He epitomised everything you could possibly ask for in a player.
“He will be remembered for being a passionate, hard-working, proud Māori who was an exceptional player but more importantly father and husband.”
