Jayson Bukuya (born 21 April 1989) is a

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 ...

former international rugby league footballer who played as a lock or forward for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

. Bukuya previously played for Cronulla and the New Zealand Warriors in the National Rugby League. He has part of the Sharks team that won their maiden premiership title in the 2016 season. Bukuya also played a prominent role for Newtown during their 2019 campaign, where they lifted the highly coveted Canterbury Cup. He is now classified as a dual premiership winner.

Background

Bukuya was born in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Bukuya is of Fijian descent. He attended Sandgate District State High School and St Patrick's College, Shorncliffe. He was also an Aspley and Norths Brisbane junior.

Playing career

2008-13

Bukuya made his National Rugby League debut for the Cronulla Sharks in 2008. Bukuya played all 4 games for

at the 2008 World Cup, and was again named in the Fiji squad for the

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013. It was the main event of the year's 2013 Festival of World ...

. During his first stint with the Sharks, Bukuya played in 59 NRL games, and scored 13 tries.

2014

He joined the New Zealand Warriors for the 2014 season. He finished off the year playing 18 NRL games and scoring 2 tries. On 1 November 2014, Bukuya was released from his Warriors' contract on compassionate grounds to return to

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 ...

2015-present

On 11 November 2014, Bukuya signed a two-year deal to rejoin the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. In 2016, he was a part of the Sharks maiden premiership winning grand final team. In 2017, Bukuya was part of the Cronulla side which qualified for the finals but were eliminated in week one after suffering a shock defeat by North Queensland 15-14. In 2018, Bukuya made 21 appearances for Cronulla as the club reached the preliminary final before being defeated by Melbourne 22-6. Bukuya made a total of 16 appearances for Cronulla in the

2019 NRL season The 2019 NRL season was the 112th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 22nd season run by the National Rugby League. The Sydney Roosters became the first team to win back-to-back Premierships since the Brisbane Broncos in 1992 ...

. Bukuya played for Cronulla's feeder club Newtown in their

2019 Canterbury Cup NSW The 2019 Canterbury Cup NSW season was the eleventh season of the New South Wales Cup, the top rugby league competition administered by the New South Wales Rugby League. The competition acts as a second-tier league to the ten New South Wales-based ...

grand final victory over Wentworthville at the Western Sydney Stadium. The following week, Bukuya played for Newtown in the NRL State Championship victory over the Burleigh Bears at ANZ Stadium. On 13 June 2020, Bukuya announced his retirement from rugby league effective immediately. On 18 July 2020, Bukuya played for Dubbo CYMS against North Sydney in the first round of a state-wide open competition.

References

External links

Cronulla Sharks profileSharks profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bukuya, Jayson 1989 births Living people Australian people of Fijian descent Australian people of Indian descent Australian rugby league players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Fiji national rugby league team captains Fiji national rugby league team players New Zealand Warriors players Rugby league centres Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Brisbane Rugby league second-rows