Me, Mils and Mum

All manner of sport-science approved techniques have been employed to gain the All Blacks a competitive edge. Maybe, though, all that is needed to forge a steely core is a competitive sibling.

That's Faolua Muliaina's theory anyway. The brother of All Black fullback Mils, who played second-five against the Lions for Southland on Tuesday night, feels a sense of pride that he quite literally licked his younger sibling into shape. Growing up in Invercargill, the Muliaina boys spent a fair amount of time knocking lumps out of each other in the back garden of the family home.

They didn't scrap just for the hell of it. They fought when one would gain an edge in whatever game they were playing. As the one-year-older Muliaina brother remembers: "Everything was a competition in our family from marbles to BMX bikes. Most of the games Mils and I played ended in scraps. And the scraps would usually end with me hitting him over the head with a cricket bat. I always got the better of him but obviously he has the bragging rights now."

Sibling rivalry serving as a rite of passage is a familiar story told by many an All Black. There's clearly something character-building in living with a perceived opponent.

The lesser-known is how the sibling who had early dominance reacts when he ends up in the shadows.

For the elder Muliaina, a role in the support cast has been to his liking. When Mils was breaking into the professional scene, Faolua headed to Sydney for an extended holiday. He had trials with both New South Wales and the Brumbies. Neither signed him.

Not that he was bothered. "I lived over in Sydney for three years. I played club football. I got a trial game for New South Wales and the Brumbies but it didn't come to anything. I wasn't too fussed. Things were pretty good in Sydney. I was a nobody. Over here in New Zealand everyone knows my brother. I was on holiday, liked it and stayed."

He came back earlier this year, with a view to rekindling a rugby career that had drifted into neutral. His chance came when he got a call from Southland co-coaches David Henderson and Simon Cullhane.

His training ethic had never been quite as staunch as baby brother's. "Probably the big difference between us is that Mils is more of a trainer. He works hard, maybe the stick we gave him when he was younger helped him put up with a lot. I'm a bit more lax."

But Faolua got off the couch, put in the yards and his reward was a place in the Stags team that gave the Lions plenty of trouble. His job was to mark Gavin Henson, the Lion with the biggest point to prove after being left out of the test squad.

"He definitely had the wood over me," was Muliaina's honest assessment. "He's stronger than he looks on television. He doesn't look like a rough old guy but he is. He was a real handful."

And now he's hoping he did enough on Tuesday to be offered an NPC contract. If he is, he'll be straight onto his mum, who will be straight onto Mils in Auckland.

"We are close, Mils and I. But we are not the types to ring each other up every weekend and talk about things. We are probably typical Invercargill males who grunt.

"To give you an example, he asked me to go fishing in Auckland but he asked mum to ask me. I replied through mum. It's the way we are. Too many scraps when we were younger."

And if you think Mils' mum looks different to the one who delivers his stuffed kiwi to the All Black bus in last year's Sky ad, you're right.

Initially Sam Tuitupou was chosen for the ad but his non-tour selection meant Mils got the part. Only problem was his mum was in Sydney at the time of shooting so an actor was employed to carry 'Zinny' (kiwis' name) on to the bus.

Mils' mum was none too happy.