Kinita said a lot of his friends retired from playing about the age of 40, but he played some of his best rugby later in life.
"I played better in my 40s and 50s because I just wanted to say to these young fellas 'if I can do it you can do it'," he said.
He had some of his toughest games playing for the Waikite Black team around the late 1980s, a team he stayed with for about three decades.
"Those were the toughest games in all my life because they were cousins and brothers playing against each other," he said.
"Those games were real hard. But today's games are not hard, you are not allowed to do anything. If you shoulder charge a fella you get done 10 minutes in the bin.
"But those days that wasn't on. You had to take it and give it back."
Kinita said he goes to the gym five times a week and enjoys hunting as well, which helped him stay fit and strong.
On the odd occasion Kinita has been pressured to give up playing rugby, including at the age of 40 when his wife gave him an ultimatum.
"I got married when I was 17," he said. "She stuck by me for a while until I turned 40, then she said to me 'you've got to give up playing now, you know, we've got grandkids coming along'. And I said, 'stuff that'."
At the age of 19, and playing at flanker, Kinita debuted for the Waikite senior A team and won a Rotorua Championship title in his first year with the top team.
He said after about 10 years playing top grade he went down a division and started the Waikite Black team with a few friends. Since then he has always played prop.
"That is probably why I have got a few games when I've gotten older because no one else wants to play prop," he said. "Younger fellas don't want to play prop ... they want to be getting all the tries and getting all the glory."
