Izaiha Moore-Aiono made his Samoa debut nearly a year on from being inspired to pick up a rugby ball again.
Battling with a meniscus injury for 10 months between 2022 and 2023, the back-row forward was on holiday visiting family in Samoa in the wake of London Irish going into administration.
Considering all options as his knee continued to heal, it was only when watching Theo McFarland training for his return from an ACL injury that Moore-Aiono realised his calling was to get back on the pitch.
With a former Black Fern for a mother, Aroha Lam, and a Samoan journeyman flanker, Rudal Aiono, as a father there was always a sense that the youngster would find himself back in the thick of things sooner rather than later.
But after a year of injury torment and losing his job, a moment of clarity while watching from the sideline that the fire was re-lit while watching star Saracens forward McFarland, whose partner is Moore-Aiono’s cousin, preparing for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
“Seeing him training with Manu Samoa, that was very inspiring for me,” Moore-Aiono said. “To see him going back and getting back into the system, that really pushed me.
“I am also quite young, so I just want to throw myself into fully giving it a crack until I am literally not walking anymore.
“I have always wanted to play rugby at the highest level, whether that be with England, New Zealand or Samoa – so when I went back to Samoa and how humbling it was to see their minimal resources, but players still going back and supporting the culture and history of Samoa rugby, that was something I wanted to be a part of.”
Working with Ian Taplin, London Irish’s former head of academy S&C, and Arete? Performance, Moore-Aiono got his body fighting fit again and was ready to build on his handful of appearances for the Exiles.
After a short spell with Northampton Saints, the back-row found a temporary home with Championship club Ampthill. Some 18 games later and the England Under-20 cap got his first Samoa summons.
With mid-year Tests and the Pacific Nations Cup to look forward to, the 24-year-old was handed his debut against Italy in unexpected circumstances.
“I wasn’t expecting an international call-up at the end of the season,” Moore-Aiono laughed.
“But when I did get the call, I initially didn’t think I’d get capped. I just thought I’d go over, compete and experience what it is like.
“Originally I wasn’t meant to play in that Italy game, I was named as a travelling reserve (TR). The day before a game you do conditioning as a TR group at 07:30 in the morning.
“I was about to start training, and the coach said they didn’t want me to. They were waiting on something, but they wouldn’t tell me what it was.
“The whole day went past, and I hadn’t heard anything. The day of the game I got a message from the coach to find him, and he said, ‘oh you’re starting today’. It was pretty daunting.”
Such was the last-minute nature of Moore-Aiono’s debut, only his grandmother could attend the game.
Playing a young Italy team that only ever improved in recent years, Samoa had their work cut out for them.
A year earlier in France the nation finished fourth in Pool D and registered just one win at the tournament.
While pushing Argentina, Japan and England close, the team’s popularity at home was not at its highest coming into the fixture and has not been helped by high-profile administrative issues.
But what followed was history at Apia Park.
In beating Italy 33-25, Manu Samoa beat a Tier 1 nation for the first time in a decade.
Moore-Aiono had an influence on proceedings too, scoring the game’s opening try on the nine-minute mark and playing the full 80 minutes in a highly entertaining fixture, even if it took some time to warm up in the stands.
“It was a funny start to the game because they (Samoa) didn’t really advertise the game,” Moore-Aiono said.
“It was a Friday afternoon at 17:00, so people were finishing work and did not really know about it. Our coach made a big thing of giving back to the people, because the people kind of lost trust in the team.
“In the first half there wasn’t that many people there. Probably a 1,000, if that. Then in the second half we came out and it was packed.
“We didn’t know if it was because we were pretty close to Italy or what. I guess I didn’t know if there’s a bit of apprehension from our fans or they didn’t want another year of not being able to compete at a high level.
“By the end of it, that was such a special feeling – being able to interact with the crowd and be in that moment.”
A month later and Moore-Aiono was helping Samoa to a third-place finish in the Pacific Nations Cup with an 18-13 win over the USA, which both his parents managed to attend.
But despite a positive campaign no one knows when they will see Samoa on the rugby pitch again.
In August the union penned a letter to World Rugby and pulled out of their tour to “avoid the embarrassment of being the first small union to go bankrupt”.
There has been further doubt cast on the union’s future following the arrest of head coach, Mahonri Schwalger, for ‘multiple serious offences’.
With a playing group scattered across the world, word has been hard to come by about when the siva tau will be seen again.
“The players, we don’t know too much about it,” Moore-Aiono said. “When we get a call-up, we answer it.
“As disappointing as it is that we didn’t get to compete against Spain, Portugal and France. I think for some players it’s quite nice because it gives them a bit of a break.
“The frustrating thing is those bonds we built going into the PNC, you want to build off them in the next campaign.
“Hopefully we can get something sorted for next year because it’ll be really exciting and the way that Samoa rugby is going at the moment, hopefully we can inspire players to choose to play for their islands, their culture and their heritage.”
Since returning to England, Moore-Aiono’s attention has turned to his future.
Without a club following his departure from Ampthill, the back-row is halfway through a month’s trial with Saracens.
Playing in the London club’s first two Premiership Rugby Cup fixtures and scoring a try in their 99-27 rout of London Scottish, now it is just a waiting game for the international.
Still training with Arete Performance too, the 24-year-old hopes to give himself the best opportunity to return to the top-flight.
But despite that uncertainty, that moment of clarity obtained at the side of a rugby pitch thousands of miles away, Moore-Aiono is doing everything he can to keep on living his professional rugby dream.
“My mindset is to take it week by week and not look too far ahead,” Moore-Aiono said.
“When Irish went under, I was in that place trying to look for clubs frantically, constantly messaging my agent asking if there was anything out there, rather than focusing on what I can control and how I can put my best foot forward.
“When I got back from PNC, I took a week off to appreciate what I have achieved in the past few months, then I sat down with Ian and the crew to put in a plan of action and did five weeks of solid training with them.
“Then this Sarries gig came up and I think it has given me a good platform to display what I can do and hopefully get another Prem gig or something.”
