Albert Anae (born 21 June 1989) is a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

footballer who plays professionally for the

Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars also known as Mitsubishi Juko Sagamihara Rugby Club, are a Japanese rugby union team based in Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The owner of this club is Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The club was founded in 1981. It ...

in the Japanese Top League. He usually plays as a

prop A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

hooker Hooker may refer to: People * Hooker (surname) Places Antarctica * Mount Hooker (Antarctica) * Cape Hooker (Antarctica) * Cape Hooker (South Shetland Islands) New Zealand * Hooker River * Mount Hooker (New Zealand) in the Southern Alps * Hoo ...

. Anae previously played for the Queensland Reds, and Italian club Benetton.

Early life

Of Samoan heritage, Anae was born in Wellington, New Zealand, where he was introduced to rugby at the Upper Hutt Rugby Football Club by his father Sio. He moved to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

with his family at a young age. Anae attended Ipswich Grammar School and was selected to represent Queensland at the Australian Schools Rugby Championships as a

in 2006. He went on to play for Australian Schools, U19s and U20s. Anae was selected to join the Queensland Reds Development tour of Ireland and France at the end of 2007. He made his Australian under-20 debut in 2008 at the inaugural IRB Junior World Championship in Wales.

Rugby career

Anae played his first

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

match for the

Reds Reds may refer to: General * Red (political adjective), supporters of Communism or socialism * Reds (January Uprising), a faction of the Polish insurrectionists during the January Uprising in 1863 * USSR (or, to a lesser extent, China) during th ...

against the Hurricanes in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

in 2011, the year that the Reds won the Super Rugby Championship. Later that season he played for Sunnybank in the

Queensland Premier Rugby Queensland Premier Rugby is a semi professional club rugby union competition in Queensland, Australia. Nine clubs play in the competition, eight of which are from Brisbane with one club from the Gold Coast. The premiership has been contested ...

competition, defeating Brothers in the grand final. In 2012, Anae was selected in the Reds Extended Player Squad (EPS), and developed his skills to be capable of playing all three front-row positions. Following injuries to

Saia Faingaa Saia Fainga'a (born 2 February 1987) is an Australian professional rugby union footballer. Family and early life Saia Fainga'a was born in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, and started playing rugby union at the age of 11 or 12 at the Queanbeyan c ...

and James Hanson, he was selected at

against the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. ...

at Suncorp Stadium in round two. The Reds won the game 35–20 with Anae excelling when given the opportunity. He finished the season with five caps. In 2013, after signing a full-time contract, Anae earned a further eleven caps with the Reds. He travelled to New Zealand in August of that year to play for Bay of Plenty in the

ITM Cup ITM may stand for: Education * ITM Global School, an English medium co-educational day school in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India * ITM Law School, one of the professional graduate schools of ITM University * ITM-IFM, Mumbai, India * Institut Tekn ...

when he was called up to the

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...

squad to replace the injured

Tatafu Polota-Nau Sione 'Utukiveisini Tatafu Polota-Nau (born 26 July 1985) is an Australian rugby union player who recently played for Parramatta Two Blues in Australia's Shute Shield. He joined the club in December 2017. Family and early life Polota-Nau was bor ...

. Albert played the final game of his Qld Reds career at the conclusion of the 2014 Super 15 regular season. He played for the Benetton club in Italy for a season before returning to Australia in 2015 to play for the Canberra Vikings and . He did not make any appearances for the Brumbies and was released during the

2016 Super Rugby season The 2016 Super Rugby season was the 21st season of Super Rugby and the first season featuring an expanded 18-team format. It was also the first season that teams outside Australia, New Zealand and South Africa featured, with the Jaguares from Ar ...

to join Japanese team

Reference list

Super Rugby statistics

External links

*
Reds profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anae, Albert 1989 births Australian rugby union players New Zealand people of Samoan descent Queensland Reds players Bay of Plenty rugby union players Rugby union props Rugby union hookers Rugby union players from Wellington City New Zealand emigrants to Australia Living people Benetton Rugby players Expatriate rugby union players in Italy Canberra Vikings players Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars players Expatriate rugby union players in Japan Melbourne Rebels players Auckland rugby union players Shimizu Koto Blue Sharks players