Keven Filipo Mealamu (born 20 March 1979) is a former New Zealand

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 ...

footballer. He played at hooker for the

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

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 ...

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in the

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 ...

, and the New Zealand national team. He was a key member of

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and

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Rugby World Cup winning teams, becoming one of only 21 players who have won the Rugby World Cup on multiple occasions. In a

Bledisloe Cup The Bledisloe Cup is an annual rugby union competition originally staged between the national teams of Australia's Wallabies and New Zealand's All Blacks that has been contested since the 1930s. The frequency that the competition is held has va ...

test match against Australia on 20 October 2012, Mealamu became the third All Black to reach 100 test appearances. He clinched the 2003 Super Rugby Title.

Early life

The grandson of Samoan immigrants, Mealamu was raised in

Tokoroa Tokoroa ( mi, Te Kaokaoroa o Pātetere) is the fifth-largest town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand and largest settlement in the South Waikato District. Located 30 km southwest of Rotorua, close to the foot of the M ...

where his father, a body building champion, worked at the local timber mill. The family eventually moved to

due to the decline of the timber industry. He is a former student of

Aorere College Aorere College is a New Zealand co-educational state secondary school (Years 9–13) that was established in 1964 in the Auckland suburb of Papatoetoe. The current principal of the college is Leanne Webb. As of , there are approximately stude ...

, where his brother and former Manu Samoa player Luke Mealamu currently works as a social worker. As a schoolboy he played as a flanker for New Zealand Under-16s and New Zealand Schools before switching to hooker in 1998. After finishing school he worked as an apprentice

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in case his rugby career did not work out.

Career

Mealamu made his provincial debut for

in 1999 against North Harbour. He first played for the

in 2000, but had a stint with the Chiefs in 2002 – the same year he debuted for the All Blacks. Mealamu also made a fine contribution to the start of the All Blacks' 2006 Tri Nations campaign with two tries against the

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...

during the first match. Mealamu captained the Blues through their 2006 Super 14 campaign, but was forced to relinquish the captaincy in 2007 due to his commitments to the All Blacks. In 2014, he made his 150th appearance for the Blues, becoming the first player in Super Rugby history to make 150 appearances for one team.

International

Mealamu made his debut for the All Blacks on 23 November 2002, against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...

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. He was made test captain in the test match against

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during the All Blacks 2008 Grand Slam tour, as regular captain

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 ...

was a reserve for that match. He was a part of New Zealand's 2011 Rugby World Cup winning squad. Mealamu was known for his hard-tackling approach to the game The

2015 Rugby World Cup Final The 2015 Rugby World Cup Final was a rugby union match to determine the winner of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, played between reigning champions New Zealand and their rivals Australia on 31 October 2015 at Twickenham Stadium in London. New Zealand ...

on 31 October was his last match as an All Black. He was one of six senior players who retired from International rugby after the competition. In the 2016 New Year Honours, Mealamu was appointed a

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

for services to rugby.

Leading of the haka

Mealamu became an important part of the leadership team of the national side and led the

haka Haka (; plural ''haka'', in both Māori and English) are a variety of ceremonial performance art in Māori culture. It is often performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the feet with rhythmically shouted or chanted accompani ...

for the All Blacks 31 times. He led the ''

Ka Mate "Ka Mate" () is a Māori haka composed by Te Rauparaha, war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe of the North Island of New Zealand. Composition Te Rauparaha composed "Ka Mate" circa 1820 as a celebration of life over death after his lucky escape fro ...

'' version 23 times and the newer '' Kapa o Pango'' version 8 times. He first led the team in September 2007 against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. In his final international test he led the ''Kapa o Pango'' haka before the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against Australia during the

2015 Rugby World Cup The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was onl ...

Local politics

In the

2022 Auckland local elections The 2022 Auckland local elections took place between September and October 2022 by postal vote as part of nation-wide local elections. The elections were the fifth since the merger of seven councils into the Auckland Council, which is composed o ...

, Mealamu ran for the position of

Franklin ward The Franklin Ward is the southernmost ward on the Auckland Council. The Franklin ward has one local board, also called Franklin; the Franklin Local Board has three subdivisions - Wairoa, Pukekohe and Waiuku. Franklin is currently represented by ...

councillor, losing to Andy Baker.

Personal life

Mealamu is a skilled artist and has illustrated several books to raise money for the Starship Children's Hospital. A practising Catholic, Mealamu and his wife Latai, whom he married in 2003, have two children.

References

External links

Blues profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mealamu, Keven 1979 births New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand people of Samoan descent New Zealand international rugby union players Auckland rugby union players Chiefs (rugby union) players Blues (Super Rugby) players Rugby union hookers Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit Rugby union players from Tokoroa Living people People educated at Aorere College New Zealand Roman Catholics