Hesse Fakatou, one of the crowd favourites at The Bees, started off in a rich vein of form by being named man of the match for the first two games of the season!  Our Tongan international, didnt start playing rugby, however, until he was 18, even though it is the main sport in his home country.  For those who dont know much about Tonga so more or less all of us it has a population of a mere 100,000, is made up of 116 islands in the South Pacific, with the main island being Tonga Tapu, and it spans the international dateline.

Hesse left his fathers fishing company and a life of scuba diving and lying in the sun, to pursue his career in rugby.  He moved to Australia at the age of 23 and took up with the Canberra Vikings in a semi-professional role.

Hesse was then selected for the Tongan World Cup squad for the 1999 RWC and found himself playing in the New Zealand/England group, with the highlight being the match against NZ at Bristol.  With a half-time score of 13-9, it looked like an upset was on the cards, but in the last quarter the experience and professionalism of the All Blacks showed through.

It was while Hesse was in the UK was in the UK for the World Cup that he was offered the opportunity to join Leeds.  After a season with them, however, he moved to The Bees and now in his third season at the club, he hopes to see his career out here: The club suits me and my family, and my family come first.  Everyone is very friendly, it is an honest club and the management are good.

This summer has seen many changes around B&S, but Hesse views them as being very positive changes: Im confident that we will be in a good position at the end of the season.  Everyones working hard in the team and we made the decision that we wanted to finish in the top 5 this year.

We had a good pre-season and Phil, Jim and Bob must take credit for that.  A lot of new players have come in, but everyone shares the same team spirit and the new boys have fitted in well to the environment of the club.

As for the bigger fixtures on the horizon, Hesse is suitably realistic:  I dont look too far ahead.  I take my preparation week by week and for me its an important approach to take.  I look to the next fixture, as there is no point in just performing well in the big games.  That way well come unstuck.

With a strong sense of family, Hesse and his young brood (3 children under 5!) have settled well in the Birmingham & Solihull area.  He has no immediate plans to return to his native country and hopes to bring up his family in the UK.  However, should the call come to fly south for the 2003 RWC, then Hesse wouldnt turn it down.  But one day he knows that hell have to take the tough decision to return to Tonga and take up a life of lying in the sun.  Aint life tough!?!