Earl Va'a

Earl Va'a (born 1 May 1972)[2] is a former rugby union and rugby league footballer who played internationally for Samoa. He has played as a fly-half in union and as a fullback and five-eighth in league.

Earl Va'a
Personal information
Born (1972-05-01) 1 May 1972
Wellington, New Zealand
Height166 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Weight79 kg (12 st 6 lb; 174 lb)
Playing information
Rugby league
PositionFullback, Five-eighth
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
Wainuiomata Lions
1994–95 Wellington City 33 17 82 3 235
1996 Hutt Valley Dolphins 18 6 67 2 160
Total 51 23 149 5 395
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1994–1995 Western Samoa
Rugby union
PositionFlyhalf
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
Richmond
L'Aquila
Worcester
Total 0 0 0 0 0
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1996–2003 Samoa 29 189
Source: [1]

Background

Va'a was born in Wellington, New Zealand.

Rugby league

Va'a started his career playing rugby league for the Wainuiomata Lions in New Zealand and in 1994 and 1995 he represented the Wellington City Dukes in the Lion Red Cup. He was selected in Samoa's squad for the 1995 Rugby League World Cup although he did not play any matches during the tournament. He toured New Zealand with Western Samoa in 1994.[3] Va'a scored 395 points in the three years of the Lion Red Cup, playing for both Wellington and the Hutt Valley Dolphins.[4]

Rugby union

After switching to rugby union he represented Samoa from 1996 until 1999 including the 1999 Rugby World Cup. He also played for Samoa at the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He has played rugby for Richmond, L'Aquila and Worcester. He is also the top point scorer for Samoa.

At 5'5 Earl Va'a is one of the shortest professional players in world rugby and was officially the shortest player at the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

He is coaching the Wellington Lions in the 2015 ITM Cup.

Sources
  • Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney

References
  1. "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  2. Earl Va'a player profile Scrum.com
  3. Lion Red Rugby League Annual 1994, New Zealand Rugby Football League, 1994. p.50
  4. New Zealand Rugby League Annual '98, New Zealand Rugby Football League, 1998.
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