AB’s mum safe in Tonga

The long wait is over for former All Blacks and Highlanders midfielder Malakai Fekitoa – his mother is ‘‘safe and sound’’. Like many Tongans overseas, Fekitoa has been waiting anxiously on news from family members after the devastating tsunami that followed the eruption of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai volcano. Although he had made contact with his sisters, Fekitoa had not heard from his mother on the island of Ha’apai where Fekitoa grew up. However, he has finally received the news he had been waiting for. ‘‘Update from Tonga,’’ Fekitoa wrote on social media. ‘‘I just spoke to my mum on a satellite phone. She’s OK and everyone back home are safe and sound.’’