5 days ago
Bason and eggs: Talented Taufa and her brothers' cracking rugby
Eseta Bason enjoys an abundant supply of eggs as a manager for eg. – an innovative free-range farm in Bulls that supplies 90,000 a day nationwide.
But every time she goes shopping, precooked sausages and tinned fish are purchased 'just in case.'
It's a cautionary habit that stretches back to a less prosperous time. When Eseta and her husband, Stephen Bason, arrived in New Zealand from Tonga in 2007, they had three children under two and a hundred pa'anga, about NZ$70 to their names.
Today the Basons own a house and pig farm in Marton with eight children – three of them among the most promising rugby players in New Zealand.
Their 18-year-old daughter Taufa Bason was a breakout star in Super Rugby Aupiki this season. She was a dominant presence on the Blues championship-winning team and became a contracted Black Fern after being named in a 49-strong training squad last month.
Two of her brothers – hooker Vernon and loose forward Mosese – are recent captains of the New Zealand U20s. All three have already played senior rugby for Manawatū, with Taufa winning all nine matches she's played in the Farah Palmer Cup.
Mosese and Vernon captured in home art. Image: Supplied
All three children are or have been employed on the egg farm. Indeed, on their return from the junior world championships in South Africa last year, Vernon and Mosese were back working at the farm at 5.30am – four hours after touching down in Wellington.
'They didn't have to work that day,' laughs Nathan Williams, founder of eg. 'It's unheard of, really. The Basons are a different breed.'
Williams established his free-range egg enterprise in 2020 that now employs 75 people (four of them Basons) and turns over $12 million annually. He spent decades of trial and error as the owner of the Top Pub in Greytown and Settlers Motor Lodge in Petone, and was then an operations manager at Turk's Poultry.
The Basons' work ethic appeals enormously to entrepreneur Williams, who was raised in a military family. He has an innate understanding of rugby, too, as a successful local coach.
Taufa Bason only persuaded her parents to allow her to play rugby after causing carnage in netball.
'When I was eight, I hit this girl and she was rolling around crying for ages. 'Hurry up, get up'. Nah, this is not for me,' Taufa recalls.
'I told Dad netball is a sport for pussies. Those were my literal words. I asked Dad, 'Can I play rugby?' Only if I could tackle my brothers, he said.'
Taufa on the wall at home. Image: Supplied
The damaging loose forward was the only girl selected in the intermediate-aged Manawatū boys rugby squads.
A serious knee injury, which ruled her out of all rugby in Year 12 at Feilding High School, threatened to derail her progress.
But last October, she scored four tries for the U18 New Zealand Barbarians in their 29-15 victory over the New Zealand Maori U18 squad, Ngā Mareikura.
That display caught the eye of Matatū coach Whitney Hansen who invited Taufa – then working on the egg farm – to train with the squad. Then, when injury struck at the Blues, Taufa jumped at a chance to play in the north and was a revelation.
In her first start for the Blues against Matatū, she scored two tries and then started the final in which her former team were edged, 26-19, at Eden Park. Five days later, she helped the Blues win the inaugural Super Rugby Champions clash, 36-5, against the Waratahs during a storm at North Harbour Stadium, Albany.
'It's crazy. I've never been part of an environment so friendly and a team so talented,' Taufa says.
'In the Aupiki final, Matatū had us stressing, not playing how we play. Throw in a shoulder, see what happens. Let's get some momentum, some hype. The pressure might have been what we needed.'
Taufa scoring against the Matatu during round five of Super Rugby Aupiki this year.
Nathan Williams is not surprised by Taufa's ascent.
'I became close to Taufa because of her brothers. She's a bundle of joy, an unbelievable rugby player who routinely chopped others in half,' he says.
'She has babysat my two children and regularly FaceTimes them now she's in Auckland. A special young lady.'
From 2019 to 2021, Williams coached Feilding Yellows to three consecutive Manawatū senior Hankins Shield championships. In his last season, Feilding was 16 and 0.
Brother Jamie Williams is the Wairarapa Bush rep coach. The former England Sevens international coached Old Boys University to four Jubilee Cup wins in Wellington.
Their father, Kerry Williams, is a former player and premier coach for Upper Hutt and more recently, Wellington Rugby development officer for Johnsonville.
In 2022, Nathan hooked up with Feilding High School, helping the First XV win two Central North Island titles. Vernon and Mosese Bason were Williams' captains, both selected in the New Zealand Secondary Schools team. In 2023, Feilding were runners-up to Rotorua Boys' at the Condor Sevens, losing the final in extra time.
Williams' farm has employed several members of the Feilding First XV and other first-class players, including Manawatū Turbos players Drew Wild, Logan Henry, Julian Goerke, Kyle Brown and Griffin Culver.
'Vernon is one of the toughest players I've coached. He's not the most natural talent, but he has an immense threshold to take and dish out punishment. He's smart and pushes those others around him to be better, though his golf needs serious work,' Williams says.
'Things come more easily to Mosese. He's extremely athletic, powerful and skilled. He has a cheeky-mischievous side, which I love; it's a lot of fun off the field, but when it's time to flick a switch, he's on.'
In 2024, after playing 50 out of a possible 54 games for the Fielding First XV, Mosese was awarded the prestigious DJ Graham Memorial Medal as the player of the Super Rugby U20 tournament in Taupō. The accolade, named after the former All Blacks captain and leading educator, has been won by All Blacks Luke Jacobson (2016) and Fletcher Newell (2019).
This month, Mosese was part of the New Zealand team who won the U20 Rugby Championship in South Africa. He started in all three games, drawing with Australia (29-29), thrashing Argentina (75-12) and shocking South Africa (48-45). Mosese was captain against Argentina scoring two tries. In a 15-try epic against the Junior Springboks, New Zealand flipped a 19-0 deficit after a dozen minutes to prevail.
'Feilding is the home of people who don't stop working. The work ethic of the people there is unreal. People are pretty grounded and that's why I think we've had heaps of good players,' Mosese surmises.
Proud parents Stephen and Eseta. Photo: Supplied
His dad, Stephen Bason, was supposed to be the rugby star. The first five-eighth had attended Rotorua Boys' High School on a scholarship in 1999. At the time he was recruited, Rotorua Boys' were the reigning national champions.
In the '99 season, they won 22 out of 25 games with Bason attracting the interest of French scouts. A professional contract beckoned – until disaster struck on a trip home to Tonga.
'I was in a car crash. The scars from that can still be seen on my left knee. It took me two years to walk properly again,' Stephen recalls.
'When professional rugby was over for me, I promised Dad I'd have kids who would try to fulfil that dream for me. Eseta was a great athlete in her own right. She played soccer and was a sprinter.'
When Stephen returned to New Zealand in 2007 with Eseta, they worked three jobs, night and day, to raise enough money to purchase their first house. From hard labour to washing dishes, nothing was beneath them. Things were so tight, Taufa recalled walking an hour each way to school.
Every Friday, Eseta would present proof of earnings to Work and Income to acquire a weekly $150 food voucher.
'That would never happen in the Islands. People are always complaining. I'm so grateful,' Eseta says.
Kids kept on coming. Joining Vernon, Mosese and Taufa in the Bason family are Fono, Levi, Stephen Jr, Ashwin and Samara.
It's the oldest Basons who've had the most seismic impact on Eseta and Stephen. A trip to South Africa to support their boys in the New Zealand U20s last year was previously an unfathomable prospect.
'South Africa, amazing,' Eseta enthuses. 'I went on a safari… a safari!
'Not all the parents could afford to go that far, but the ones that did were such great people with flash jobs: doctors, lawyers, consultants, and the like.'
She became close friends with Leah Simpson, whose son Rico is in his second year with the NZ U20s.
'Leah's a beauty therapist in central Auckland. The sis was always telling me to do my hair when we went out. I'd tell her: 'Babe, I'm an egg farmer from Bulls!' Eseta laughs.
Stephen and Eseta will head to Italy for the World U20 Junior Championships in June. Such trips are made possible with the support of Nathan Williams, whose empathy extends to his hens.
Since opening his farm, Williams has exceeded current Free Range standards with 1,000 fewer hens per hectare (outside) and fewer than 9 hens per sq m (inside). His hens can dust bathe, wander and forage, leading to a better quality of egg. His business will soon expand to a production of 120,000 eggs a day.
Meanwhile, Mosese recently became a father. His two-month-old daughter Layla has already held a rugby ball.
P.S. The author would like to thank delivery driver Matt for a thoroughly entertaining commute from Houghton Bay to Bulls. With Bruce Springsteen blaring on the car radio, signs of a good road trip were promising. One of 18 children, he has four of his own all employed and homeowners. In five decades of driving, he's negotiated seven-foot-high waves, power outages and car crashes to deliver produce while learning where all the good truck stop cafes are. Matt's breakdown of NRL, Super Rugby Pacific and the Basons' game was full of common sense.
