Taioalo Vaivai

Taioalo Vaivai
Vaivai with the Illawarra Cutters in 2013
Personal information
Full name Taioalo Vaivai
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
2009–11 South Sydney Rabbitohs 4 1 0 0 4
2011 Penrith Panthers 8 0 0 0 0
2018– Hull Kingston Rovers 20 11 0 0 44
Total 32 12 0 0 48
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2016–17 United States 8 7 17 0 62
As of 11 October 2018
Source: [1][2]

Taioalo "Junior" Vaivai (born 18 January 1990) is a United States international rugby league footballer who plays for Hull Kingston Rovers in the Super League. He has previously played for the Penrith Panthers and the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the National Rugby League. He primarily plays as a centre.

Background

Vaivai was born in Auckland, New Zealand.

Personal life

Vaivai has previously worked as a personal trainer at Aventus Health and Fitness, in Warrawong, Australia. He is the cousin of American professional wrestler and actor, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.[3][4]

Playing career

Early career

Vaivai played his junior rugby league for the Goodna Eagles and the Easts Tigers in Brisbane, Australia.[5]

Playing positions

He primarily plays as a centre, but he can also play as a five-eighth.

South Sydney Rabbitohs (2009-11)

Covering for an injury to Beau Champion, Vaivai made his National Rugby League début in round 24 of the 2009 season, against the Penrith Panthers.[5]

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.[6]

Vaivai was named at centre, in the 2009 National Youth Competition 'Team of the Year.'[7]

On 5 May 2011, Vaivai was stood-down from the Rabbitohs after he was convicted of assaulting his girlfriend.[8]

Penrith Panthers (2011)

Vaivai joined the Penrith Panthers for the remainder of the 2011 season, making his club début as a late call-up to cover for an injury to Luke Lewis.[9]

Vaivai training with the Penrith Panthers during his time at the club.

Illawarra Cutters (2013)

In 2013, Vaivai joined the Illawarra Cutters in the New South Wales Cup.[10]

Western Suburbs Red Devils (2017)

In 2017, Vaivai played for the Western Suburbs Red Devils in the Illawarra Rugby League competition.[4]

Hull Kingston Rovers (2018 - present)

In February 2018, Vaivai signed a one-year contract with Hull Kingston Rovers in the Super League.

After a lengthy and drawn-out Visa application process, which frustratingly prevented Vaivai from making his début for Hull KR, Taioalo finally made his first appearance for Hull Kingston Rovers in round 11 of the 2018 Super League season, in a 40–26 defeat to the Warrington Wolves at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.[11]

Junior scored his first try for Hull KR on 13 May 2018, in a 10-28 Challenge Cup home defeat to the Wigan Warriors at Craven Park.

It was revealed on 2 July 2018, that Vaivai had signed a new two-year contract extension to play and remain at Hull Kingston Rovers until at least the end of the 2020 rugby league season.[12][13]

Representative career (USA 2016-17)

Qualifying through his American Samoan mother and grandmother, Vaivai made his début for the United States in their 2016 America's Cup match against Jamaica.[4]

On 24 September 2017, Vaivai was named in the United States' 23-man squad for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.[14]

Representative career statistics

DateOpponentTGFGPtsRef
23 July 2016 Jamaica
1
1/1
0
6
[15]
24 September 2016 Canada
0
1/3
0
2
[16]
1 October 2016 Canada
1
4/4
0
12
[17]
22 July 2017 Jamaica
3
8/8
0
28
[18]
16 September 2017 Canada
1
3
0
10
28 October 2017 Fiji
1
0
0
4
[2]
5 November 2017 Italy
0
0
0
0
12 November 2017 Papua New Guinea
0
0
0
0

Honours

Individual Honours (Career Awards and Accolades)

References

  1. ↑ loverugbyleague
  2. 1 2 "Junior Vaivai". Rugby League Project.
  3. ↑ Jennings, Mitch (9 September 2016). "The only reason I kept playing was because of Dwayne: Vaivai". Illawarra Mercury.
  4. 1 2 3 Walter, Brad. "Vaivai looking to USA for redemption shot". RLWC2017. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  5. 1 2 "Rabbitohs Teams for Round 24 vs Panthers". rabbitohs.com.au. 18 August 2009. Archived from the original on 12 September 2009.
  6. ↑ "NYC Database – V". NYC Database. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  7. ↑ Campton, Nick (2 July 2015). "Under-20s 2009 Team of the Year: Where are they now?". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  8. ↑ Dale, Amy (5 May 2011). "Junior Vaivai stood down after assault conviction". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  9. ↑ Massoud, Josh (18 June 2011). "Phil Gould's first recruit Junior Vaivai to début tonight". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  10. ↑ Hall, Sam (10 January 2013). "GALLERY: Illawarra Cutters aiming higher". Illawarra Mercury. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  11. ↑ "Tickle and Vaivai boost Hull KR". rugby-league.com. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  12. ↑ "Vaivai signs on the dotted line". 2 July 2018.
  13. ↑ "Vaivai extends contract at Hull KR". 2 July 2018.
  14. ↑ "Team USA". RLWC2017.com. 24 September 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  15. ↑ "United States 54 : 4 Jamaica". Rugby League European Federation.
  16. ↑ "Canada 8 : 14 United States". Rugby League European Federation.
  17. ↑ "United States 20 : 14 Canada". Rugby League European Federation.
  18. ↑ Williams, Steve (24 July 2017). "USA Hawks vs Jamaica Reggae Warriors Game Report". USARL.com. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
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