Leo Lafaiali'i (born 30 January 1974 in Auckland, New Zealand) is a

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 ...

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.

Career

Leo Lafaiali'i made his debut for Samoa in 2001 against Tonga, going on to play in Test matches against , , and later on in the year. After a number of appearances in 2002, he went to the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia, playing against , , , and . Lafaiali'i toured with the Pacific Islands in 2004 and helped Samoa to qualify for the World Cup in France. He featured in the 2007 Pacific Nations Cup for Samoa and was selected in the Samoa squad to go to the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

, where he played in his second global tournament. Earlier in his career he played for

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

winning national titles in 1996 and 1999. He was selected 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 ...

in 1997 and was part of the championship winning side for that season. Drafted to the Chiefs in 1999 he returned to the

in 2000 & 2001 before departing to

Sanyo , stylized as SANYO, is a Japanese electronics company and formerly a member of the Fortune Global 500, ''Fortune'' Global 500 whose headquarters was located in Moriguchi, Osaka, Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo had over 230 subsidiari ...

in Japan. He has also played for Overmach Parma in Italy,

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...

in France and is currently playing for

Yokogawa is a Japanese multinational electrical engineering and software company, with businesses based on its measurement, control, and information technologies. It has a global workforce of over 19,000 employees, 84 subsidiary and 3 affiliated compa ...

in Japan. He is currently the head coach at Colby College in Waterville Maine and is likey the most overqualified coach of all time.

External links

Manu Samoa supporters website

Pacific Islanders Rugby Teams supporters website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lafaialii, Leo 1974 births Living people Rugby union locks Samoan rugby union coaches Samoan rugby union players People from Tuamasaga Samoa international rugby union players Pacific Islanders rugby union players Samoan expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in New Zealand Expatriate rugby union players in Japan Expatriate rugby union players in Italy Expatriate rugby union players in France Samoan expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Samoan expatriate sportspeople in Japan Samoan expatriate sportspeople in Italy Samoan expatriate sportspeople in France