Campese Ma'afu, (born 19 December 1984) is an Australian professional

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 ...

player. Ma'afu was selected to the

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

national squad in 2010 and has gone on to win more than 50 caps. Ma'afu has also played professionally for

Cardiff Blues Cardiff Rugby ( cy, Rygbi Caerdydd) are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby competitions. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...

and

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

Career

Family

Campese is the second oldest out 3 brothers, Salesi & Apakuki, born and raised in the Western suburbs of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, he is of

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

n heritage through his father and Fijian heritage on his mother's side. His father and mother hail from the villages of

Kolovai Kolovai is a village on the Tongan island of Tongatapu. Its 2006 population was 4,098. The village is notable for its lakalaka, the national dance of Tonga. A national monument has been proposed to preserve the site of the koka tree where members ...

& Kadavu, respectively. The Ma'afu family made an especially interesting mark in rugby history in 2010 when the two brothers, Salesi and Campese, played against each other in a test match between and . Elder brother Salesi played for the Wallabies at tight-head Prop while younger brother Campese played for Fiji at loose-head prop. A third brother, the youngest, 'Apakuki, plays for Tonga.

Club career

Ma'afu joined

for the start of the

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

2012/13 season. He signed to play for Nottingham R.F.C. in the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when ...

in the 2013/14 season. He remained at Nottingham until signing for the French

Pro D2 Rugby Pro D2, also known as Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was in ...

club

in 2015. In 2016, he signed for

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

side,

with immediate effect from the 2016-17 season. Ma'afu has since notched up 14 appearances for the Midlands side and most recently helped Saints' second the Northampton Wanderers reach the final of the Aviva 'A' League. Ma'afu and the side beat Gloucester United 36-15 to take the title. It was announced on 5 June 2017 that Ma'afu would link up with fellow Saints Api Ratuniyarawa and head back to

for the summer international. After 2 seasons with Northampton, Ma'afu initially signed for

Ealing Trailfinders Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club is an English professional rugby union club based in West London. The club's first team are the current champions of the RFU Championship but will remain in that league due to ineligibility for promotion to Premi ...

before subsequently joining Leicester Tigers for the 2018/19 season. On 15 May 2019 he was announced as one of the players to leave Leicester following the end of the 2018-19 Premiership Rugby season.

References

External links

* 1984 births Australian rugby union players Fiji international rugby union players Australian sportspeople of Tongan descent Australian people of I-Taukei Fijian descent Fijian people of Tongan descent Rugby union players from Sydney Fijian expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in Wales Expatriate rugby union players in England Fijian expatriate sportspeople in Wales Australian expatriate sportspeople in Wales Australian expatriate rugby union players Living people Cardiff Rugby players Nottingham R.F.C. players Northampton Saints players Leicester Tigers players I-Taukei Fijian people Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Fijian expatriate sportspeople in France Australian expatriate sportspeople in France Rugby union props {{fiji-rugbyunion-bio-stub