Salesi Tu'ipulotu "Charles" Piutau (born 31 October 1991) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

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 it ...

player. He plays in the fullback (and occasionally wing) position for England club

Bristol Bears Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 1 ...

in the Premiership, and formerly for New Zealand's national team the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

Early life

Piutau was born in New Zealand, from

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 parents. He grew up on the

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

suburb of Mangere and attended Wesley College. He is the youngest of 10 children.

Rugby playing career

Junior level

In 2010, Piutau represented

at the

IRB Junior World Championship The World Rugby Under 20 Championship (known as the IRB Junior World Championship until 2014) is an international rugby union competition. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, World Rugby, and is contested by 12 men's junior nat ...

in Argentina. Piutau was the top try scorer for the New Zealand Under-20s in their 2011 World Championship winning campaign. Charles played club rugby for Pakuranga United Rugby Club. He is the younger brother of

centre Siale Piutau.

Club career

Piutau made his debut for Auckland in 2010. He was brought into the Blues squad in 2012 and confirmed as fullback in 2014. On 1 April 2015, it was announced Piutau would join Irish club

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

from the start of the 2016–17 season. Piutau signed for English club

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...

in the Aviva Premiership during the 2015–16 season. During his season at Wasps, Piutau had a strong impact. He scored a try in the 80th minute against

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played its home m ...

in the European Rugby Champions Cup quarter-final to help Wasps reach the semi-final. Piutau was nominated for the Aviva Premiership Player of the Season and was named in the Team of the Season. In August 2017, Ulster confirmed that Piutau would be leaving the province at the end of the

2017–18 Pro14 The 2017–18 PRO14 (also known as the ''Guinness PRO14'' for sponsorship reasons) was the seventeenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League. It is the first season to be referred to as the ''Gu ...

season to join

International career

Piutau joined the

training squad during the 2013 Super Rugby season. On 22 June, he made his test debut against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

in New Plymouth. He was not selected for the 2015 World Cup, a factor in his decision to move to play club rugby in Europe.

Test Match Record

Pld = Games Played, W = Games Won, D = Games Drawn, L = Games Lost, T = Tries Scored, Con = Conversions, Pen = Penalties, DG = Drop Goals, Pts = Points Scored

Personal life

Piutau married in July 2018. Piutau has invested in multiple houses in Auckland New Zealand, Singapore, Australia and the United Kingdom.

References

External links

*
Charles Piutau , Rugby Database Profile
*
Auckland player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Piutau, Charles Living people 1991 births Auckland rugby union players Blues (Super Rugby) players Bristol Bears players Expatriate rugby union players in Northern Ireland People educated at Wesley College, Auckland People from Māngere Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union wings Rugby union players from Auckland Tonga international rugby union players Ulster Rugby players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand international rugby sevens players New Zealand people of Tongan descent New Zealand rugby union players Wasps RFC players