Maddie Feaunati is out to make a name for herself – but will never forget Jonah Lomu and the ‘Hollywood years’ that came with Invictus
Maddie Feaunati on her father playing Jonah Lomu in Invictus.
15 years ago her dad played All Blacks legend Jonah Lomu in a Hollywood blockbuster. On Sunday Maddie Feaunati tackles New Zealand on the rugby field.
As storylines go it might not quite have Clint Eastwood digging out the phone number he called to give Zak Feaunati the part in Invictus alongside screen greats Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon.
But it is a lovely twist to the fairy tale of a Samoan rugby player with no acting pedigree being plucked from obscurity to help tell the story of the most iconic moment in rugby history.
Father a film star
“At the time I was like, ‘yeah, cool, dad’s in a movie,” says Maddie, England‘s Leeds-born, Kiwi-raised flanker. “But now I literally watch the film every time I’m on the plane. I love it.”
One of four sisters, Maddie has spent her life being reminded she is her father’s daughter. Now a fully-fledged Red Roses international she is out to make a name for herself.
Her focus is on WXV glory in Vancouver as a stepping stone to World Cup redemption for the sport’s top-ranked nation on home soil this time next year, but family pride means she happily revisits ‘the Hollywood years’.
It all began with a phone call to the Rugby Players Association, the trade union representing elite rugby players in England, and a casting agent wanting to know if there was anyone they could suggest who would fit the part.
David Barnes, RPA chair at the time, was still playing for Bath where for years he packed down in front of Isaac Feaunati. He thought of ‘Zak’ and said he would contact him.
Knowing Barnes as he did, the New Zealand-born forward was “99 per cent sure it was a prank” and thought nothing more of it. A few days later he was stood in front of the casting director performing the haka.
The second of two players considered, Feaunati got the job and found himself a key part of the adaptation of the book, ‘Playing The Enemy: Nelson Mandela And The Game That Made A Nation’, written by the Independent’s long-time South Africa correspondent, John Carlin.
By the time of its release, Maddie was seven, too young still to understand the magnitude of the story being told, of how President Mandela, played by Freeman, joined forces with Springbok rugby captain Francois Pienaar [Damon] to unite a country fractured by years of apartheid.
As nobody needs reminding, the ‘Rainbow Nation’ won the 1995 World Cup final, beating New Zealand and the late, great Lomu, amid unforgettable scenes.
“What I remember of the film is everything blowing up,” Maddie says. “Dad on the phone all the time, then in South Africa for, like, two months, coming home then going to movie premieres all over the country.
“It never really resonated with us until we were older and everyone was like, ‘Oh my god is your dad in Invictus?’ I was like, ‘Yeah’.
“I just thought it was normal. I guess that’s credit to my parents who made everything quite humbling and just a good experience for us growing up.
Missed out on the red carpet
“Dad did though always say to us that we would go to a premiere so I really thought we would get to be on the red carpet, meet Matt Damon and all that. But we never did.
“We never got to one film premiere! And there were heaps. He gave our tickets away to someone else, I think. I’m still mad at him for that.”
She laughs as she talks, confirming any disappointment she might have felt did not cut deep. She does, however, raise an eyebrow at a suggestion made at the time that none of his daughters would follow him into rugby.
“It was always my plan to give rugby a go,” she says. “I just didn’t have the confidence to because it was such a thing that my dad did.
“I watched him coach my friends for so many years. Eventually, I was like, ‘Why am I not just doing it?’ I guess I just went for it.
“When I told him I was quitting netball and putting everything into rugby he was like, ‘Okay… like, are you sure?’
“He was definitely surprised, because we were such netball and athletics girls, but he supported me 100 per cent from there.”
So much has happened since then. Maddie earned a Super Rugby contract in New Zealand, where the family had returned to live in 2011, and was close to a Black Ferns central contract.
Then Exeter called, luring her back to the land of her birth. And this year she made it into the England team, bringing memories flooding back for her dad’s old team-mates.
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“I’ve watched Maddie play and she’s much better player than her dad,” says David Flatman, who spent the last nine years of his career at Bath, having started out playing with Damon – sorry, Pienaar – at Saracens.
“Basically, her dad had genetics on his side, she appears to have talent as well. She moves so well and plays with a smile. Again, looks more fun to be around than her dad.”
Unlike Maddie, Flatman was invited to the London premiere. “Basically a night on the sauce for us,” he recalls. “Only a select few got the call. Senior players, top dogs, those who could bench press over 200 kilos.
“I briefly thought I was going to die. Standing on the red carpet Francois [Pienaar] came up behind me and put me in a headlock. Thought he was going to choke me out. He’s honestly made of metal, bizarrely strong. Like Wolverine.”
So much for the past. The present for Maddie smells of Roses. England are on an 18-match winning run, untouched since losing to New Zealand in the 2022 World Cup final.
They have beaten the Black Ferns in both meetings since, last month at Twickenham and a year ago in the final of the WXV competition they are in Vancouver bidding to retain.
“For me, it is a cool fixture because I know people on both sides of the ball,” she says. “But the Red Roses are my family now. I have no friends on the pitch.”
