Uini Atonio: France's 23st, Shakespeare-quoting prop

Unfancied English raiders taking on a mighty French force on foreign soil.

If captain Courtney Lawes needs a literary flourish to close out his pep talk on Saturday evening, Shakespeare's Henry V would provide.

«Cry 'God for Eddie, England, and Saint George!'» perhaps. Or maybe not.

If anything, the parallel is more likely to be on the mind of a man in the home dressing room.

Uini Atonio's upbringing was South Auckland rather than South Bank.

His Samoan mother and father worked hard and long, as a maid and welder, to provide for him and his two siblings.

Growing up, Uini and his older brother Vau had two passions. The first, unsurprisingly given their heft and attendance of the city's famous Wesley College — which has Jonah Lomu among its alumni — was rugby.

The second was acting.

Atonio played everything from godfathers to genies — but his passion was Shakespeare.

He and Vau were part of the Black Friars — a theatre group named after the London home of Shakespeare's company and dedicated to challenging stereotypes around Pasifika people in New Zealand.

Uini performed in Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet, but he could quote lines from across the canon.external-link

One he had by heart was from Measure for Measure:

«Our doubts are traitors,» it goes. «And make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.»

As Atonio's rugby career took off and then stalled, he had plenty of chance to reflect on it.

Provincial side Counties Manukau saw the teenager's size — 6ft 4in tall, more than 26st — as a weakness rather than strength. They feared he was too slow across the ground, too quick to tire late on. He was left out and told to slim down.

When, aged 21, the chance to move to France came, Atonio shrugged off the selectors' scepticism