The Ansin & Monteith Hastings Rugby and Sports midfielder, who has led his club XV side in winter, finds it can be testing to make the transition between the formats.
"It's quite a big hit from XV to sevens, especially from a fitness side when you have to trim down a bit and listen to our trainer, who has been bashing us a little bit for the last couple of months," says the 24-year-old of HBRFU conditioning coach Luke Stephenson, who also served in a similar role with the Samoa team.
But "it's been worth it" for the resident support worker who has been helping children with disabilities at Poraiti School for the past three years.
As a skipper, Fomai, of Flaxmere, is expecting the lads to be more receptive to his actions, rather than his laughing gear.
"Yeah, I reckon just more walking the talk rather than just too much talking and trying to keep the vibes as positive as possible."
He understands the heads of the young and restless can drop quickly when the chips are down in the gut-busting, high-octane arena of contention that goes seven minutes each way in pool play.
Stephenson has been putting the squad through the spin-dry cycle, testing the capacity of their lungs in the collective drive to build a solid foundation.
Needless to say there's no escape clause in "blowing out" leading to or post-Christmas for the Tafai Ioasa-coached Bay men.
As a hooker, Fomai finds himself gravitating to the middle of the park and switched on both in attack and defence.
"As a prop, you've got to be more hands on with the ball and carry it a lot more stronger," he says, emphasising he has the licence to feed the high-twitch fibre types on the wings.
Overall, Fomai says, the basic tenets of sevens revolve around refining the down-to-earth skills of passing, tackling and running almost in the realms of a sixth-sense existence.
The former Hastings Boys' High School pupil likes to think he sits in the middle of hares and tortoises in a game where reading the topography of the field in relation to personnel distribution is equally imperative.
"I let all the faster fellows do all that fancy stuff to finish off, while I do the stuff in the middle to just feed them," says the bloke, who has no qualms about fitting into the team matrix.
Fomai sees the grassroots tourneys, such as Central Region, as ideal opportunity to craft their skills for higher honours.
However, he hastens to add if they aspire to do things that will benefit the team then the billboard will speak for itself at the national and international levels.
"We still have to go there to make the top five before we think about the nationals, if we do make it through - yeah, we should," he says of the nine-team competition in three pools.
Fourth-seeded Bay are in pool C with No 3 Taranaki and No 9 East Coast.
It sounds easy to make the top five but entertaining such thoughts can prove to be futile.
"We'll have to treat every game like it's a final." he says, stressing individual pursuits will have to give way to a pack mentality.
It goes without saying that Ioasa, a former All Blacks Sevens skipper, simply inspires the squad with his presence.
"I've always looked up to him since I was younger so to be under him is quite awesome. I've learned a lot from him and I'm still learning."
Fomai says a lot of boys find it captivating that Ioasa was a protege of former sevens coach Gordon Tietjens, who now mentors Samoa.
"When he says something you just have to shut up and do it," he says of Ioasa who is media shy.
It's Fomai's third Central tourney. He missed the 2014 one because of a broken arm in the XVs season, which put him out for about 18 months.
He's trying to gauge how his body will respond to the rigours of the abbreviated format for international duties.
"See what happens after this. Maybe I can crack it later."
He isn't too sure what the eligibility rules are pertaining to switching allegiances between nations but he doesn't mind playing for either team.
Born in Auckland, he moved to Hastings with his Samoan-born parents and three brothers and a sister.
While Wellington, Manawatu and Taranaki dictate terms at the Central tourney, he says upsets are a pass away.
Bay team manager David Russell says the HBHS pair of Trent Hape and Jeriah Mua are making their debut while Damien Scott is on loan from Otago, while back home during university holidays.
"Billy Ropiha is not available due to New Zealaand sevens duties," Russell says.
Tourney details
For the annual Central Region men's sevens tournament in Levin on Saturday:
■ Pool A (number denotes seeding): Wellington (1), Poverty Bay (6), Wairarapa Bush (7).
■ Pool B: Manawatu (2), Whanganui (5), Horowhenua Kapiti (8).
■ Pool C: Taranaki (3), Hawke's Bay (4), East Coast (9).
■ Hawke's Bay team (number denotes jersey): 1. Thomas Fogerty (CHB), 2. Cole Eru (CHB), 3. Damien Scott (CHB), 4. Jayden Rihia (HRS), 5. Hayden Hann (Pirates), 6. Neria Fomai (c, HRS), 7. Mason Emerson (HRS), 8. Jeriah Mua (HBHS), 9. Trent Hape (HBHS), 10. Joseph Penitito (NOBM), 11. Matt Garland (Pirates), 12. Kaleb Whakataka (Taradale).
Head coach: Tafai Ioasa.
Ast coach: Mark Ozich.
Trainer: Luke Stephenson.
Physio: Candace Wheatley.
Manager: David Russell.
HB draws
■ Rd 1, 11.20am: v Taranaki, field 1.
■ Rd 2, 12.40pm: v East Coast, field 2.
Note: All teams will be seeded after the pool games from 1 to 9 with the top qualifiers going straight to the semifinals from 3.20pm and the No 9 qualifiers dropping out. The remaining teams will vie for the other three playoff berths. Rd 4 match points will accrue to determine overall standings. The top five qualifiers will gain entry to the nationals.
