Junior Sa'u

Junior Sa'u
Personal information
Full name Tafeaga Junior Sa'u[1]
Born (1987-04-18) 18 April 1987
Auckland, New Zealand
Height 175 cm (5 ft 9 in)[2]
Weight 97 kg (15 st 4 lb)[2]
Playing information
Position Centre

Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2008–12 Newcastle Knights 86 26 0 0 104
2013 Melbourne Storm 4 1 0 0 4
2014– Salford Red Devils 134 59 0 0 236
Total 224 86 0 0 344
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2009–10 New Zealand 9 8 0 0 32
2013 Samoa 2 0 0 0 0
As of 13 October 2018
Source: [3][4]

Tafeaga Junior Sa'u (born 18 April 1987) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays for the Salford Red Devils in the European Super League. He primarily plays as a centre.[3]

He previously played for the Newcastle Knights and the Melbourne Storm in the National Rugby League.

Playing career

Sa'u playing for the Newcastle Knights in 2009

Born in Auckland, New Zealand to Samoan parents from Lauli'i, and Apolima,[1] Sa'u played his junior football for Logan Brothers in Queensland, Australia before being signed by the Canberra Raiders. He played for the Raiders' Premier League team in 2006, scoring 7 tries[5] before signing a 4-year contract starting in 2008 to be a part of the newly cleaned out Newcastle Knights.

In Round 13 of the 2008 NRL season he made his NRL début for the Knights against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. He scored 2 tries on debut. In June 2011, Sa'u re-signed with the Knights for a further 2 years.[6]

On 18 August 2012, Sa'u was released from the final year of his Knights contract and signed with the Melbourne Storm on a 1-year contract starting in 2013.[7][8]

In June 2013, it was announced that Sa'u had signed a two-year deal with Salford in the European Super League starting in 2014. [9]

Scoring 12 tries in his début season with Salford, Junior was voted 'Supporter's Player of the Year' for 2014.

Representative career

In 2008, Sa'u was named in the Samoa training squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup but did not make the final squad.[10]

In 2009, Sa'u was selected in the New Zealand Kiwis Four Nations squad and made his international début for the Kiwis against Tonga.[11]

In 2010, Sa'u was selected for New Zealand in the 2010 ANZAC Test. He was also again selected in the New Zealand squad for the 2010 Four Nations.

In 2013 Junior played for Samoa in the Pacific Rugby League International against Tonga. He was also called in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup squad to replace the initially selected Roy Asotasi.

Personal life

He is a cousin to Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles player Steve Matai.

In 2009, Sa'u was praised for coming to the aid of a 15-year-old girl who was being assaulted in Waratah, New South Wales.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 "New name, true allegiance for Sa'u". NRL.com. 19 April 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Junior Sau Salford Red Devils". www.superleague.co.uk. Rugby Football League. 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  3. 1 2 "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  4. ↑ loverugbyleague
  5. ↑ http://www.rleague.com//db/player/s/sau_junior/index.php
  6. ↑ "Cowboys' lifeline for Paterson". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  7. ↑ http://www.newcastleknights.com.au/news-display/Sau-signs-with-the-Storm/61793
  8. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 May 2013. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  9. ↑ http://www.reds.co.uk/rugby-news/reds-sign-kiwi-international-junior-sau
  10. ↑ "Samoa name World Cup Squad". League Unlimited. 2008-08-05. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  11. ↑ "League: Chance for rookie Kiwis". The New Zealand Herald. NZPA. 12 October 2009. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  12. ↑ Nick Walshaw (2009-07-01). "Newcastle Knights' Junior Sau hailed for saving girl's life". Fox Sports News (Australia). Retrieved 2009-08-07.
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