Reds snare Fiangaa twins

[GIGS20]

Yeah I agree Tai is great, but hardly a long term proposition. Moore is good, but not necessarily better than Holmesey, I don't think signing Moore will be a problem for the but it'll make selections interesting 'till Tai decides he's had enough!

[Evie]

Family ties bind Faingaa twins
PETER FITZGERALD
The Canberra Times 6 April

TWINS Anthony and Saia Faingaa refute claims they are a "package deal" but admit they would have accepted a "significant pay cut" if it meant they could stay together next season.

The pair announced on Friday they were headed for the Queensland Reds for the next two years, Saia rejecting an offer from the ACT Brumbies because the club was unable to offer Anthony a contract for 2009.

Talking to The Sunday Canberra Times yesterday, the brothers spoke for the first time on what they both branded the "toughest decision" of their careers, the reasons behind it and their plans for the future.

Anthony revealed the Reds registered an interest in him well before expressing a desire to sign Saia.

At the time - almost three weeks ago - Queensland hooker Stephen Moore had shown no signs of wanting out of the final year of his contract, meaning there was no room for Saia.

But when the incumbent Wallabies rake Moore said he would look elsewhere for 2009, Queensland pounced on Saia and the brothers agreed to terms.

"They wanted nothing to do with me initially," Saia said.

"Then Moorey started to make noises he might leave and that's when they then approached me."

The Faingaas said they decided six weeks ago they would continue to play their rugby together, at least for the next couple of years.

Anthony had just been ruled out for the Super 14 season after suffering a knee injury in the Brumbies' round two victory against the Otago Highlanders.

The gruelling recovery period and rehabilitation required after the surgery led the brothers to the knowledge they were not yet ready to be separated.

"We realised then we probably weren't ready to venture out by ourselves," Saia said.

"We said from that point we wanted to stick together, at least for the next part of our career, we said to each other we'd even take a pay cut to be able to stay together.

"We just want to be happy. If we're happy, that's when we're going to play our best football and we wouldn't be happy if we were separated at this stage of our lives and careers."

The twins spent a lot of time discussing their options with their family over the past fortnight.

Parents Saia and Cindy especially copped plenty of breakfast table conversation from their sons as they pondered where the next stage of their rugby careers would be played out.

Anthony stressed that while the decision was made together, he and Saia were heading to Queensland as quality players in their own right.

"We're not going as a package, we're going as individuals," he insisted.

"We're really family orientated. The Brumbies culture is a family outside your real family and that's what we want to do at the Reds.

"We're not married, we don't have kids, it's a good time and opportunity for us to go."

Saia agreed, saying the toughest aspects of leaving were the possibility of splitting from their family and leaving behind all of their friends.

"People don't understand, we've been in the Brumbies program since we were 14-years-old, we've grown up thinking some of the former players were superstars, our heroes," he said.

"For us to leave now is really really tough."

The Faingaa family may yet stay together in 2009. The Reds have shown interest in the twins' 17-year-old brother Colby, who captained the Queanbeyan Whites yesterday in the first round of the Vodafone Shield pre-season competition at Campese Oval.

And mum and dad Faingaa have also hinted they could follow the boys to Queensland, obviously with the youngest daughter Hulita, 4, in tow.

The couple's other son Vili, 20, is contracted to the Melbourne Storm in the NRL.

[Endurance]

sounds like all four faingaas to be starting reds by 2010 haha