Johnny Leota (born 21 January 1984) is a Samoan

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 who played for

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...

in the

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 ...

. Leota was born in

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

, New Zealand and made his international debut for

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 ...

in 2011; he has since won 20 caps. He previously played for

Manawatu Turbos The Manawatu Rugby Football Union (MRU) is the governing body of the sport of rugby union in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. Founded in 1886, Manawatu is one of New Zealand's oldest rugby unions. In 1892, the MRU, amongst other ...

in the

ITM Cup ITM may stand for: Education * ITM Global School, an English medium co-educational day school in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India * ITM Law School, one of the professional graduate schools of ITM University * ITM-IFM, Mumbai, India * Institut Tekn ...

. Started in 2001, making the NZ Rugby League U17 tournament team and NZ secondary schools tournament team. From here he progress into the Hurricanes schools team which lead to him being put into the academy. Leota followed the rugby path with no success until 2004 where he made his debut for Manawatu Rugby before making his breakthrough season to the Highlanders super rugby squad after a stunning 2007 season. He was offered a contract with the West Tigers in NRL 2007 but chose to go with the Highlanders.

Club career

Leota debuted for Manawatu in 2004 and developed into a fixture for the province, playing his 50th match in 2009. As part of his move to the Highlanders in 2008, he signed with

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

, but was immediately loaned back to Manawatu. Leota missed most of the

2010 ITM Cup The 2010 ITM Cup season was the fifth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on July 29, when Taranaki hosted Northland. It involved the top fourteen rugby unio ...

through injury, making only two appearances for the Turbos. He returned to action with Manawatu for the 2011 season. Leota was signed by the Highlanders for the

2008 Super 14 season The 2008 Super 14 season started in February 2008 with pre-season matches held from mid-January. It finished on 31 May, when the Crusaders won their seventh Super Rugby title with a 20–12 victory over the Waratahs in front of the Crusaders' ...

, and established himself as a key member of the squad, starting 12 of the team's 13 games and scoring two tries in the process. In

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, Leota again made 12 appearances for the Highlanders, but was reduced to six starts and was used mainly as a substitute through the second half of the season. Leota was not retained by the Highlanders for the

2010 Super 14 season The 2010 Super 14 season kicked off in February 2010 with pre-season matches held from mid-January. It finished on 29 May. The 2010 season was the fifth and last season of the expanded Super 14 format. The schedule, which covers 3½ months, fea ...

, and instead found himself in the wider training group of the

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

. However, he did not make an appearance for the squad and was not brought back after missing most of the 2010 provincial season through injury. On 11 August 2011, Leota moved to England as he signed for

who compete in the

after the conclusion of the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...

. Leota left Sale Sharks at the conclusion of the 2018-19 season

International career

Leota was one of 25 players selected in the squad for the Samoan national team's 2011 Pacific Nations Cup campaign, in the leadup to the

. He made his international debut for Samoa against

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 ...

in Lautoka, Fiji. Shortly thereafter he returned to New Zealand and resumed provincial duties for Manawatu.

Personal life

Johnny Leota is married to

Liana Leota Liana Leota (née Barrett-Chase; born 31 October 1984) is a New Zealand netball player. She is a member of the national netball team, the Silver Ferns, and plays for Severn Stars in the British Netball Superleague. Leota was a member of the Sou ...

(née Barrett-Chase), a

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

player in the

Silver Ferns The New Zealand national netball team, commonly known as the Silver Ferns, represent New Zealand in international netball. The team take their nickname from the Silver Tree Fern (''Cyathea dealbata''), which is National symbols of New Zealand, ...

and the

Southern Steel Southern Steel are a New Zealand netball team based in Invercargill. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. Since 2017 they have represented Netball South in the ANZ Premiership. Netball South is the governing body that re ...

. The couple married in 2010 in Rarotonga, and have one daughter, Brooklyn.

References

External links

Manawatu Turbos profileSale Sharks Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leota, Jonny 1984 births New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand sportspeople of Cook Island descent New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent Samoa international rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players Manawatu rugby union players Sale Sharks players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in England New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England Samoan expatriate rugby union players Samoan expatriate sportspeople in the United Kingdom People educated at Palmerston North Boys' High School Living people Rugby union players from Palmerston North Rugby union centres