- Mana is the power felt through a close bond not only through our ancestors, but those who are present with us and those who will come after us.

(soft drumbeat music) - You know, rugby, we all come together, and we're all able to play as a team, and not, positions don't matter too much.

Like, we all get to play together, and especially after games, it's all love and we're all brothers.

- Rugby values is representing your team, your family, and just who you are.

You respect, you're also not just your teammates, but also the people you're playing against.

- Everyone has to have discipline.

There's no selfish, you know, takes during the game.

Everyone has to communicate together.

- I do feel that there's a special bond.

I feel that there's that mana that we all have.

The tribals on our jerseys not only represent all of our Pacific Islander influences, but I think being from Polynesian descent that each tribal and each design that we have holds a special mana between our families.

It also holds that special mana between our ancestors and that we are deeply connected to one another.

- Probably the best part was playing in the State Championship.

We were able to go out and battle with our brothers.

No matter the outcome, we ended up losing, but I know that we all put our all into that game and played it to the fullest.

- Going out there on the field and just feeling the cold rain, just seeing, like, the crowd, the screaming, it was all mind blowing.

And all my brothers on the field as we walked on together as one.

Opposing team, LCA, they did a traditional haka.

It's the Sipi Tau and it's basically a war cry to show that they're ready to play.

And me and my brothers, my teammates, we all linked up together in a line and walked up as one to represent that we could take this on, and we did take it on.

We took on that force, that war cry, and what comes with it.

(bright music) We lost that game and that I remember just crying in the rain and we had to do the haka.

The haka we did, it's a Maori haka, and it's supposed to be for your family.

It's not a war cry.

It's great respect and just to show the brotherhood and the friendship of the community.

- Of course, the one that we do is Tika Tonu, and it was made from a Maori Chief talking to his son, talking about how it's all gonna be okay.

That no matter what we go through during life that we can always make it through and that our parents are there to help us as well through those trials.

- I feel that doing it at the end brought us together even more and that we were able to show our parents and show our loved ones as supporters, how much we truly care about them.

- And just all my teammates just, like, crying, tears on their face, but still doing the haka.

That really told me something.

Even though the game's over, that's not the end of it.

With every beat, I just, I felt the power, and the mana through the brothers and the coaches.

(team shouting haka war cries) - Even though we did lose State, it was also my last game.

Playing with all my brothers as well as my little brother, Skylar.

It was also my last game being coached by Coach Vaha, my father, and it wasn't so much that we lost, but it was so much that the sport that raised me the most had to end that way with my brother and my father.

That, yeah, that was my last game to be with them.

- Just losing that state championship, knowing that we put everything into that game and we still came up short, but no matter what, it can be the worst time, but we're all brothers and we're all there for each other and we all love each other at the end of the day.

- Yes, I was mad, I was sad, but at the same time I was so grateful and blessed that we were able to come together at the end and perform the haka for our parents and all of our supporters.

I felt that when we did that haka, that mana just came even stronger.

(team shouting haka war cries) and I could feel the goosebumps that all of us had and the mana and that bond between us when we performed it for our parents and our supporters, that love was real.

That family connection and that bond was so real.

(team shouting haka war cries)