Even before the crack of dawn on Monday, the quaint coastal village of Luatuanuu had become a hive of activity as the famous sons of the village were getting their titles.

One son is considered the third highest capped All Blacks, only behind Sam Whitelock and Richie McCaw.

Mealamu brothers, former All Blacks Keven and former Manu Samoa Luke were bestowed the Maiavatele and Mapusua titles with their younger brother and cousin in Luatuanuu. 

Maiavatele Keven Mealamu the renowned All Blacks has played 132 matches and hails from Luatuanuu.

He was grateful for the opportunity to return home and receive one of the titles from his father's village.

The four title holders are Maiavatele Keven Mealamu, Mapusua Luke Mealamu, Suilaulau Francis Mealamu, and Logomalie Ponifasio Mealamu. They said they were proud and grateful to have received the titles and were blessed to witness the whole title bestowment ceremony take place. 

"We were privileged today to get our matai, so were very happy. It was an awesome morning. I couldn't sleep last night as I was a bit nervous but now that we're here, it's done," said Maiavatele. 

"It's good to see our village and our family here today. My title is Maiavatele. It's a privilege to serve my family and our village. It's also an opportunity for us to make our family proud. I understand it's a huge honour to get the title Maiavatele, and I hope to represent it well.

" I think for me probably the last couple of days have been the best days I've had in the village. Just getting the chance to connect with our family and village. I get quite emotional because our dad has been asking us to do this for a while, but it's a shame we haven't got our mom here. She passed away but I know she was with us.

"Over the last couple of days, we've just been going through the process, going through what does it look like and what do we expect. But it was lucky too because I had to get the legs folded while we were sitting on the ground. Very awesome to be part of it and especially to have all of my brothers here."

Despite playing for the black jersey, his heart was always with Samoa. He had donated rugby jerseys to assist with the development of rugby in the village. He mentioned that his first memory of rugby was watching Sir Michael Jones play in the All Blacks and inspired him to become one.

"I knew every time we took the field we were representing the All Blacks but were also representing our nuu (village) back here. What a privilege it is to be back here and share this moment with all our family and all our villagers as well."

His brother, Mapusua Luke Mealamu played for Manu Samoa. He has taken his father's title and for him, it is a huge responsibility and an honour. He said he will use the title to serve his family and village.

"I am really blessed and humbled to have our village and all our families support us today. Feeling the love, it's a very special moment. It's very powerful and having the opportunity to serve our family and our village. I'm looking forward to it," he said.

"My debut was in Wales in 2000 for the Manu Samoa 15s, and was blessed to play for Manu Samoa 7s from 2001 to 2002 under Filipo Saena as our coach at the time and Romeo Ah Chong was our manager. 

"It was an opportunity to represent our family, to let everybody know that our village of Luatuanuu and my mom's village Vailoa, Palauli was represented."