Earl Va'a (born 1 May 1972)
Scrum.com is a former

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 ...

and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played internationally for Samoa. He has played as a

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

in union and as a and in league.

Background

Va'a was born in

Wellington, New Zealand 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 ...

Rugby league

Va'a started his career playing

for the

Wainuiomata Lions The Wainuiomata Lions are a New Zealand rugby league club based in Wainuiomata, Wellington. They compete in the Wellington Rugby League competition. In the early 1990s, prior to the creation Lion Red Cup national league competition based on ...

in New Zealand and in 1994 and 1995 he represented the

Wellington City Dukes The Wellington City Dukes were a New Zealand rugby league club that represented Wellington City in the Lion Red Cup from 1994 to 1996. In 1997 one of the two Wellington Rugby League sides that competed in the Super League Challenge Cup was also ...

in the

Lion Red Cup The Lion Red Cup was a New Zealand domestic rugby league competition that ran from 1994 to 1996 sponsored by brewers Lion Nathan. It was created due to the increase in public awareness of domestic rugby league due to the Auckland Warriors being a ...

. He was selected in Samoa's squad for the 1995 Rugby League World Cup although he did not play any matches during the tournament. He toured New Zealand with Western Samoa in 1994.''Lion Red Rugby League Annual 1994'',

New Zealand Rugby Football League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year.Coffey and Wood ''T ...

, 1994. p.50 Va'a scored 395 points in the three years of the Lion Red Cup, playing for both Wellington and the Hutt Valley Dolphins.''New Zealand Rugby League Annual '98'',

, 1998.

Rugby union

After switching to

he represented

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

from 1996 until 1999 including the 1999 Rugby World Cup. He also played for

at the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He has played rugby for

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

L'Aquila L'Aquila ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of both the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L'Aquila. , it has a population of 70,967 inhabitants. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valle ...

and

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

. He is also the top point scorer for Samoa. At 5'5 Earl Va'a is one of the shortest professional players in world rugby and was officially the shortest player at the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He coached 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 ...

in the 2015 ITM Cup but resigned in 2016.

Sources

* Andrews, Malcolm (2006) ''The ABC of Rugby League'' Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Va'a, Earl 1972 births Living people Dual-code rugby internationals Expatriate rugby union players in England New Zealand expatriate rugby union players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand rugby union coaches People educated at St Bernard's College, Lower Hutt Richmond F.C. players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league fullbacks Rugby union fly-halves Samoa international rugby union players Samoa national rugby league team players Samoan rugby league players Samoan rugby union players Wainuiomata Lions players Wellington rugby league team players Worcester Warriors players