Rugby: Fekitoa lets actions do the talking

Malakai Fekitoa during the Super Rugby trial match between the Highlanders and the Crusaders. Photo / Getty

Malakai Fekitoa scored a try, got into a shoving match but kept his mouth shut in a Highlanders pre-season match in Waimumu, near Gore tonight.

But his actions of describing his issues with anger management were said to be as slightly naive by his coach.

Fekitoa had put a post on social media on Wednesday outlining issues with his anger and how he got angry in certain situations.

He played most of the match yesterday against Crusaders - impressing with some hard running and defence - but was not made available by the Highlanders after the game.
Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph said Fekitoa was a player who should just get out and play rugby.

"He is a young man who is very honest and slightly naive in terms of, I guess, the media attention," Joseph said.

"He just needs to play rugby. He is a great rugby player. There is a lot of guys in that position who get a bit angry when they play rugby, you don't have to look to far than myself. He just needs to play the game."

Joseph said he did not know what brought about the post and it did not stem from anything which happened at training.

Fekitoa was his usual hard-running self in the game and scored an impressive try in the second half, cutting inside a defender from 5m out to score.

He got in a minor altercation in the first half which was a little bit of nothing.

The match ended in a 19-19 draw with the Crusaders scoring a rolling maul right at the end of the game.

Crusaders first five-eighth Richie Mo'unga could not kick the handy conversion to give his side the win.