Taioalo Vaivai

Taioalo Vaivai
Personal information
Nickname Junior
Born (1990-01-18) 18 January 1990
Auckland, New Zealand
Height 178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 100 kg (15 st 10 lb)
Playing information
Position Centre, Five-eighth

Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2009–10 South Sydney Rabbitohs 4 1 0 0 4
2011 Penrith Panthers 8 0 0 0 0
Total 12 1 0 0 4
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2016–17 United States 4 5 14 0 48
As of 8 August 2017
Source: [1]

Taioalo "Junior" Vaivai (born 18 January 1990) is a New Zealand-born rugby league footballer who previously played professionally with the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Penrith Panthers in the National Rugby League. Currently playing for the Western Suburbs Red Devils in the Illawarra Rugby League, Vaivai has represented the United States national team through his American Samoan heritage.

Playing career

Vaivai played his junior rugby league for the Goodna Eagles and the Easts Tigers in Brisbane, Australia.[2] In 2009 and 2010, he played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the National Youth Competition, scoring 39 tries and kicking 33 goals in 42 matches.[3] Covering for an injury to Beau Champion, Vaivai made his NRL debut in round 24 of the 2009 season against the Penrith Panthers.[2] Vaivai was named at centre in the 2009 NYC team of the year.[4]

On 5 May 2011, Vaivai was stood down from the Rabbitohs after he was convicted of assaulting his girlfriend.[5] Vaivai joined the Penrith Panthers for the remainder of the 2011 season, making his club debut as a late call-up to cover for an injury to Luke Lewis.[6]

In 2013, Vaivai joined the Illawarra Cutters in the New South Wales Cup.[7]

Representative career

Qualifying through his American Samoan mother and grandmother, Vaivai made his debut for the United States national team in their 2016 America's Cup match against Jamaica.[8]

Date Opponent T G FG Pts Ref
23 July 2016  Jamaica
1
1/1
0
6
[9]
24 September 2016  Canada
0
1/3
0
2
[10]
1 October 2016  Canada
1
4/4
0
12
[11]
22 July 2017  Jamaica
3
8/8
0
28
[12]

Personal life

Vaivai currently works as a personal trainer at Aventus Health and Fitness in Warrawong, Australia.[8] He is the cousin of American wrestler and actor Dwayne Johnson.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "Taioalo Vaivai". Rugby League Project.
  2. 1 2 "Rabbitohs Teams for Round 24 vs Panthers". rabbitohs.com.au. 18 August 2009. Archived from the original on 12 September 2009.
  3. ↑ "NYC Database - V". NYC Database. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  4. ↑ Campton, Nick (2 July 2015). "Under-20s 2009 Team of the Year: Where are they now?". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  5. ↑ Dale, Amy (5 May 2011). "Junior Vaivai stood down after assault conviction". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  6. ↑ Massoud, Josh (18 June 2011). "Phil Gould's first recruit Junior Vaivai to debut tonight". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  7. ↑ Hall, Sam (10 January 2013). "GALLERY: Illawarra Cutters aiming higher". Illawarra Mercury. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  8. 1 2 Walter, Brad. "VAIVAI LOOKING TO USA FOR REDEMPTION SHOT". RLWC2017. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  9. ↑ "United States 54 : 4 Jamaica". Rugby League European Federation.
  10. ↑ "Canada 8 : 14 United States". Rugby League European Federation.
  11. ↑ "United States 20 : 14 Canada". Rugby League European Federation.
  12. ↑ Williams, Steve (24 July 2017). "USA Hawks vs Jamaica Reggae Warriors Game Report". USARL.com. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  13. ↑ Jennings, Mitch (9 September 2016). "The only reason I kept playing was because of Dwayne: Vaivai". Illawarra Mercury.
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