Ali Lauitiiti

Ali Lauitiiti
Lauitiiti in 2008
Personal information
Full name Alaimatagi Lauitiiti[1]
Born 13 July 1979 (1979-07-13) (age 32)
Auckland, New Zealand
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight 110 kg (17 st 5 lb) [2]
Playing information
Position Second-row
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1998–2004 NZ Warriors 115 33 0 0 132
2004–11 Leeds Rhinos 198 65 0 0 260
2012– Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 0 0 0 0 0
Total 313 98 0 0 392
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2000–2006 New Zealand 19 7 0 0 28
2007–2010 Samoa 3 0 0 0 0
As of 16 March 2009
Source: RLP

Ali Lauitiiti is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer for English club Leeds Rhinos in the European Super League. Both a Samoa and New Zealand international representative forward, he previously played in the National Rugby League for the Warriors. Since moving to the Rhinos he has won the 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2009 Super League championships with them.

Contents

Early years

Ali played for the Mangere East club in 1996 and shone as a junior in their U19 side in 1997 scoring 17 tries in 19 games. He went on to gain international honours with the Junior Kiwis that year, and again in 1998.

New Zealand

Ali made his senior debut back in April 1998 for the Auckland Warriors. In 2002 he was named the NRL's second-rower of the year. He was an integral part of the Warriors squad that reached the Grand Final in 2002, the first time in the club's history, however they were to lose out to the Sydney Roosters on that occasion. He appeared in 115 games for the Warriors and scored 33 tries.

Leeds

Ali joined the Rhinos in May 2004 from NRL side the New Zealand Warriors on a two and a half year contract. When he was released from his contract with the Warriors it sparked a world wide chase for his signature. However, the Rhinos beat competition from 14 other clubs in Australia and England to secure the second rower.

He made his debut for the Rhinos against Salford and took little time to settle in, scoring his first try in the subsequent game against Bradford Bulls. His incredible ball handling skills earned him a place in the Tetley's Super League Dream Team in 2004 and 2005.

In 2005 Ali scored 14 tries in 32 appearances including 17 as a replacement. His 14 tries includes an incredible five tries against Wakefield when he came off the bench to become the first forward in the summer era to score five tries.

He was part of the Leeds side for the World Club Challenge who picked up honours after defeating the Canterbury Bulldogs in 2005. He also appeared in the Challenge Cup Final and helped the Rhinos to their second successive Grand Final appearance when he scored the winning try against St Helens with an 80 metre run in the Grand Final Qualifier.

Ali played in Leeds' three Grand Final wins in a row between 2007 and 2009. He also featured in the 2004 Grand Final winning team and the 2005 Grand Final which ended in defeat for Leeds.

International

He was selected for the New Zealand test squad for the 2000 Anzac test but missed out on final selection for the match instead making a try scoring debut against the Cook Islands at Reading in the World Cup. He also scored against Wales in the next game at the Millennium Stadium.

He has now played 14 times for New Zealand and was part of the Kiwis side that toured Great Britain in 2002, featuring in seven out of the eight games on the tour, including all three Tests against the Lions, plus games against St Helens, England A, Wales and France. He also scored in the third Test against Great Britain.

In 2005 he once again joined the New Zealand squad and scored a try against Great Britain in the Tri Nations after coming on from the bench, and was then part of the successful squad who defeated Australia in the final.

Ali was selected to represent The All Golds side in the match against The Northern Union at The Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington in October 2007, scoring two tries in the match. He has since made himself available for Samoa's World Cup Campaign.

He has been named in the Samoa training squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.[3]

He has been named in the Samoa squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.[4]

References

  1. ^ LAUITIITI, ALAIMATAGI 1998 - 2006 - KIWI #677 nzleague.co.nz
  2. ^ "Leeds Rhinos Players & Coaches 1st Team". web page. Leeds Rhinos. 2011. http://www.therhinos.co.uk/rugby/players/first_team.php?player=81323&includeref=dynamic. Retrieved 15 June 2011. 
  3. ^ "Samoa name World Cup Squad". League Unlimited. 2008-08-05. http://www.leagueunlimited.com/article.php?newsid=16750. Retrieved 2008-08-06. 
  4. ^ "Samoa, Tonga and Fiji name squads". BBC. 2008-10-08. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/7658506.stm. Retrieved 2008-10-09. 

External links