Chase Tiatia (born 14 October 1995) 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 it ...

player, who currently plays as a utility back for in New Zealand's domestic

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship, o ...

competition. He has signed with 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. F ...

for the 2023 and 2024 Super Rugby season. He was born and raised in

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 ...

, but is eligible to represent

Manu Samoa The Samoa national rugby union team (also known as Manu Samoa) represents Samoa in men's international rugby union and it is governed by the Samoa Rugby Union. They are also known as Manu Samoa, which is thought to derive from the name of a Samo ...

internationally due to his Samoan heritage.

Early career

Born in Lower Hutt, Tiatia initially attended

Hutt Valley High School Hutt Valley High School is a state coeducational secondary school located in central Lower Hutt, New Zealand. A total of students from Years 9 to 13 (ages 12 to 18) attend the school as of making the school one of the largest in the Welling ...

before moving to St. Patrick's College Silverstream for his final 3 years of schooling between 2010 and 2013. While at St. Patrick's, he played first XV rugby and after graduation, he moved on to represent

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 metr ...

at under-19 level, helping them to win the first ever Jock Hobbs Memorial National Under-19 tournament in 2014. During his time in Wellington, he made a name for himself turning out for Hutt Old Boys-Marist in the Jubilee Cup Premier Division, Wellington's top club competition, where he finished as leading try scorer in 2014.

Senior career

Tiatia got his first chance at provincial level with the

Wellington Lions The Wellington Rugby Football Union (known as the Wellington Lions for competition reasons) are a New Zealand governing body of rugby union in the New Zealand province of Wellington Region. The main stadium is Sky Stadium (formerly named West ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

. It proved to be a difficult environment for a 19-year-old to get his first taste of rugby in, as the Lions – generally one of the competitions strongest sides – were relegated from the Premiership down to the Championship. Initially held back by a broken thumb, he went on to make 3 appearances during the campaign and was named as Wellington's most promising player, before heading north to join the Bay of Plenty Steamers for the

2015 ITM Cup Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak al ...

. In Rotorua, Tiatia was reunited with former Wellington under-19s coach Clayton McMillan, now head coach of the Steamers. The move proved to be a fruitful one as he played in all 11 of Bay of Plenty's games in 2015 and netted 4 tries, which saw him win his province's rookie of the year and back of the year awards. An elbow injury restricted him to just 3 appearances in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

as the Steamers reached the Championship semi-finals before losing to . After seven seasons playing for , Tiatia decided to move. On 29 June 2022, the

Hawke's Bay Rugby Union The Hawke's Bay Rugby Union (HBRU) is the governing body of rugby union in the Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand. The union is based in Napier. The Hawke's Bay representative team are nicknamed ''The Magpies''. History The Hawke's Bay Rugb ...

announced that Tiatia had signed with the Magpies for the

2022 Bunnings NPC The 2022 Bunnings NPC season is the seventeenth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition, the National Provincial Championship, since it turned professional in 2006. It involves the top fourteen provincial rugby unions of New ...

season. He made his debut for the province on 6 August 2022 against .

Super Rugby

Tiatia's excellent domestic form for the Bay of Plenty in 2015 brought him to the attention of New Zealand's Super Rugby franchises and he was subsequently named in the squad for the 2016 Super Rugby season. As a young back in a star studded line up, Tiatia's first season at Super Rugby level was largely one of learning and he didn't get on the field at all in 2016, with his year being ended early with an elbow injury. Despite this, head coach

Dave Rennie Dave Rennie (born 22 November 1963) is a New Zealand and Cook Islands professional rugby union coach and former player who is the head coach of the Australia national rugby union team, having previously coached New Zealand sides the Chiefs, , ...

retained him in the squad for

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

International

Although born and raised in New Zealand, internationally Tiatia elected to represent the land of his ancestors, Samoa, at under 20 level. He was a member of their under-20 side which participated in the

2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was the eighth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised for the second time in Italy by rugby's governing body, World Rugby. Twelve nations played i ...

where he scored 1 try in 5 appearances.

References

External links

itsrugby.co.uk profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tiatia, Chase 1995 births Living people People educated at Hutt Valley High School People educated at St. Patrick's College, Silverstream New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand rugby union players Samoan rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union wings Rugby union fullbacks Wellington rugby union players Bay of Plenty rugby union players Chiefs (rugby union) players Hurricanes (rugby union) players Hawke's Bay rugby union players Western Force players