Leicester Faingaʻanuku

Early career

Faingaʻanuku was educated at Nelson College, where he was captain of the school's 1st XV team.^[6]

His father Taʻu Faingaʻanuku played prop for Tonga in the 1999 Rugby World Cup. One of the games during the World Cup, in which Tonga beat Italy, was played at Welford Road Stadium, Leicester, England. Ta'u named his son after the city in honour of the game. Wales was used as one of his middle names as the hosts and Twickenham was named after Twickenham Stadium where Tonga were due to play their next match.^[2]

Remove ads

Senior career

Summarize

Perspective

Tasman

Faingaʻanuku was named in the Tasman Mako squad for the first time for the 2018 Mitre 10 Cup season^[7] and made his debut in Round 8 when Tasman played Otago at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, coming off the bench in a 21–47 win for the Mako.^[8] He was part of the Tasman team that won the Mitre 10 Cup for the first time in 2019.^[9] He was again part of the Mako side that won the 2020 Mitre 10 Cup.^[10] Faingaʻanuku had an outstanding 2021 Bunnings NPC season as Tasman made the final before losing 23–20 to Waikato.^[11]

Crusaders

Faingaʻanuku was named in the Crusaders squad for the 2019 Super Rugby season, after signing a three year contract with the franchise.^[12]^[13] He made his debut for the franchise, off the bench, against the Brumbies in Round 11, but that was the only game he played in the 2019 season as the Crusaders went on to win their third Super Rugby title in a row.^[5]

During the following seasons, Faingaʻanuku cemented himself more and more in the match day squad, from 2022 as a regular starter. He starred during that season, which he finished as the joined top try scorer with Crusaders team mates Sevu Reece and Will Jordan at 10 tries each.^[14] The Crusaders won their sixth title in a row with a 7–21 win over the Blues in the final.^[15]

The 2023 season turned out to be Faingaʻanuku's last season with the Crusaders. On 8 June 2023, the Crusaders announced that he had signed an 18 month contract with French Top 14 club Toulon.^[16] Less than three weeks after that announcement, the Crusaders won their seventh consecutive Super Rugby title after beating the Chiefs 20–25 in the final. Faingaʻanuku finished the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific season as the competition's top try scorer with 13 tries.^[17]

North v South

Faingaʻanuku was named on the South Island team's bench for the North vs South match that was played on 5 September 2020 at Sky Stadium in Wellington.^[18] The South Island won the game 38–35.^[19]

Moana Pasifika

On 5 December 2020, Faingaʻanuku played for Moana Pasifika in a one-off match against the Māori All Blacks in Hamilton.^[20] He started in the number 14 jersey in a historic game that the Moana Pasifika side lost 21–28.^[21]

Remove ads

International career

After being one of the best players during the 2022 Super Rugby season, Faingaʻanuku was selected in the All Blacks squad for the 2022 Steinlager Series against Ireland.^[22] He was named to debut as a starting winger in the first test of the series on 2 July 2022 at Eden Park, Auckland.^[23] New Zealand won the match 42–19, with Faingaʻanuku becoming All Black number 1200.

On 7 August 2023, Faingaʻanuku was named in the All Blacks squad for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.^[24] He made his World Cup debut – via the bench – on 8 September 2023 in the round 1 loss against France.^[25] He scored his first ever try for the All Blacks in the second pool match against Namibia on 15 September 2023.^[26] On 5 October 2023, Faingaʻanuku scored a hat-trick in the final pool match against Uruguay.^[27]

In all, Faingaʻanuku played seven tests for the All Blacks and scored five tries.