Sa Jordan Taufua (born 29 January 1992) 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 its m ...

player who plays as a loose forward. He previously played for Tasman in New Zealand's domestic

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in t ...

and the in the international

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

competition.

Early career

Born in Otahuhu, in the Auckland suburbs, Taufua was educated at

Alfriston College Alfriston College is a secondary school in the suburb of Alfriston in Auckland, New Zealand. The College opened in 2004, and along with Botany Downs Secondary College, was the first state secondary school to be built in Auckland in 25 years ( ...

before completing his schooling at Sacred Heart College in the city of Auckland. After finishing high school, he moved south to

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

to attend Lincoln University and while there he played local club rugby for them.

Senior career

Taufua's senior rugby career began in

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when he was loaned to the Tasman Mako by Canterbury before the season's commencement. He displayed fine form in his first year of provincial rugby, playing all 10 of the Mako regular season championship games before being controversially recalled by Canterbury ahead of the competition's play off phase. Taufua played as a replacement in Canterbury's victories over and which saw them crowned ITM Cup Premiership champions while things didn't work out quite as well for Tasman who went down to in their Championship play-off semi-final match. A full Canterbury squad member in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, he was an ever-present as the men from Christchurch retained their ITM Cup Premiership crown, finishing second in the round-robin stage but going on to defeat 29–13 in the final. He moved back north in

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 ...

to play for the

Pukekohe Pukekohe is a town in the Auckland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the southern edge of the Auckland Region, it is in South Auckland, between the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and the mouth of the Waikato River. Th ...

-based Counties Manukau Steelers and started every game in his first season for them as they finished in 5th place on the Premiership log, just outside the play-off places. The Steelers were once again agonisingly close to making the play-offs in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

but ended up in 5th spot once more with Taufua contributing 3 tries in 9 matches before bagging a career high 6 tries in one season as he was again an ever-present in the Counties side which finally did make the Mitre 10 Cup play-offs 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 trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

before they went down to his former side and eventual champions, Canterbury. After a four-year absence, Jordan Taufua returned to the Tasman Mako in 2017. The Mako went on to reach the Premiership Final that season, which they lost to

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

. After Joining

Premiership Rugby 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 ...

side

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

for the 2019–20 season, he was granted early release in February 2021. On 27 January 2021, French club

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

announced that it had signed Taufua as an injury replacement ("joker médical") for the remainder of the

2020-21 Top 14 season The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...

for the injured

Mathieu Bastareaud Mathieu Bastareaud (; born 17 September 1988 in Créteil) is a French rugby union player who plays Number 8 for Toulon in the Top 14. Originally a Centre, he played for RC Massy, Stade Français, and then eight seasons at the Toulon with whom ...

and

Gillian Galan Gillian Galan (born 7 August 1991) is a French rugby union player. His position is Number 8 and he played for Lyon in the Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top ...

. Taufua made his Lyon and

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

debut on 5 February 2021 against Clermont.

Super Rugby

An excellent debut season for Tasman and Canterbury in provincial rugby brought him to the attention of Christchurch-based Super Rugby franchise, the who named him in their squad for the

2013 Super Rugby season The 2013 Super Rugby season was the third season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The tournament was won by the Chiefs, who defeated the Canberra-based Brumb ...

. Aged just 21 and surrounded by experienced loose forwards such as

Richie McCaw Richard Hugh McCaw (born 31 December 1980) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He captained the national team, the All Blacks, in 110 out of his 148 test matches, and won two Rugby World Cups. He has won the World Rugby ...

Kieran Read Kieran James Read (born 26 October 1985) is a New Zealand former rugby union player. He played as a number 8 and is a former captain of the New Zealand national team, the All Blacks. Read played for New Zealand from 2008 to 2019. He is one of ...

Matt Todd Matthew Brendon Todd (born 24 March 1988) is a New Zealand rugby union footballer, who plays as an Openside Flanker for the Toshiba Brave Lupus in the Japanese Top League competition. Todd played 25 tests for New Zealand internationally, from ...

as well as

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

and

Luke Whitelock Luke Charles Whitelock (born 29 January 1991) is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays as a loose forward for in New Zealand's domestic Mitre 10 Cup and the in the international Super Rugby competition. Whitelock has Captained ...

it was largely a season of learning for the young Taufua who made just 5 substitute appearances throughout the year. A season spent learning from experience pros proved to be beneficial for him as he became much more of a regular the following year, playing 14 times as the 'Saders finished as the competition's runner-up, losing narrowly 33–32 to the in the final in

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 ...

. He was firmly established as a starting member in the Crusaders line up in

, playing in all 16 of their games during a season which ended with them in a disappointing 7th place in the overall standings, just outside the play-off positions. They bounced back in

and reached the quarter-finals before bowing out with a 42–25 loss to the in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

, Taufua played in 15 of their 16 games and helped himself to an impressive 4 tries. In May 2016, it was announced that Taufua had extended his contract with the Crusaders and would stay with them until at least the end of the 2018 Super Rugby season. Taufua re-signed with the Crusaders for one more season (2019) in March 2018.

International

Although born in New Zealand, Taufua opted to represent the land of his ancestors,

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 ...

at the

2011 IRB Junior World Championship The 2011 IRB Junior World Championship was the fourth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams, this competition replaced the now defunct under 19 and under 21 world championships. The event was organised by rugby's ...

in Italy before switching his allegiance back to

, playing 5 times for them in their run to the tournament final where they went down 22–16 to hosts

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. In June 2015, Taufua was part of a

World XV A World XV is a rugby union team organised on an unofficial, ''ad hoc'' basis and typically composed of invited players from various countries. Several World XVs have been arranged by various bodies, often to take part in celebration and testimoni ...

side which lost 46–10 to in Cape Town, he played the whole game in the number 6 shirt. The following year at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

, on 5 November 2016 he faced the same opposition, but this time in a

Barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less c ...

jersey. He was selected as the starting openside flanker in a game which ended up as a 31–31 draw and was replaced by

Ruan Ackermann Ruan Ackermann (born 29 December 1995) is a South African professional rugby union player, currently playing in the Premiership Rugby, English Premiership with Gloucester Rugby, Gloucester. His regular position is Flanker (rugby union), flanke ...

in the 75th minute of the match.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taufua, Jordan 1992 births Living people New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand people of Samoan descent Canterbury rugby union players Tasman rugby union players Crusaders (rugby union) players Counties Manukau rugby union players Rugby union number eights Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Auckland People educated at Sacred Heart College, Auckland Barbarian F.C. players Leicester Tigers players People educated at Alfriston College Lyon OU players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in France New Zealand expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in England Expatriate rugby union players in France