Matai Leuta (born July 20, 1990) is an American rugby union player who currently plays for the San Diego Legion in

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Off ...

(MLR). Matai has gained international honors playing for the

United States National Rugby Sevens Team The United States national rugby sevens team competes in international rugby sevens competitions. The national sevens team is organized by USA Rugby, and the team has been led by Head Coach Mike Friday since 2014. The main competition the team ...

. Matai has had an extensive rugby sevens career, playing in 215 HSBC World Sevens Series matches in 44 tournaments, and scoring 31 tries. He played in the Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2018 in San Francisco and was on Team USA for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He also played for the Houston Sabercats in 2022 and for the Chicago Hounds in 2023. Leuta has played professional rugby with

Premier Rugby Sevens Premier Rugby Sevens (PR7s) is the top annual North American men's and women's rugby sevens competition. The competition follows a touring model and involves 16 teams (8 men's and 8 women's teams) competing against each other across the count ...

(PR7s) since 2021. He was a member of the 2021

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but has played the last two seasons with the SoCal Loggerheads.

Early life

Matai is from Marina, California, and spent much of his childhood in Fiji. When he returned to California as a teenager, he attended Seaside High School, graduating in 2008. While he played rugby as a youth, his senior year in high school he helped the Seaside Spartans win the Monterey Bay League in football. Matai played for the Monterey Beachdogs when he attended Monterey Penisula College, and later with the San Jose Seahawks. Leuta became serious in 2013 about pursuing rugby professionally, and improved his diet and fitness. Leuta was discovered in early 2015 at a recruitment camp at the Olympic Training Center in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

International rugby career

Leuta joined the U.S. national rugby sevens team in 2015. Leuta scored his first World Series try at the

2015 Japan Sevens The 2015 Japan Sevens was held on 4–5 April 2015. It was the fourth edition of the tournament and the seventh instalment of the 2014–15 Sevens World Series. Format The teams were drawn into four pools of four teams each. Each team played eve ...

against Portugal when he caught the ball from the U.S. own kickoff and broke through two tacklers to score. Leuta was a member of the U.S. team at the

2015 London Sevens The 2015 London Sevens was the ninth and final tournament within the 2014–15 Sevens World Series. This edition of the London Sevens was held over the weekend of 16–17 May 2015 at Twickenham in London. The most notable headline from this event ...

, where the U.S. secured its first ever tournament victory in the

World Rugby Sevens Series The World Rugby Men's Sevens Series is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World Sevens Series, the com ...

; Leuta was a starter for the final of that tournament, helping the U.S. defeat Australia 45-22 to win the tournament.

Professional rugby union career

Leuta's last year with the national sevens team was in 2021. Since then, he has played professionally in

with the SoCal Loggerheads and in

with the

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Premier Rugby Sevens

2023 Leuta remained a SoCal Loggerhead for the second-straight season, helping the team secure its second

Championship. The Loggerheads started the season 0-2 to then go on a four-game winning streak to claim the title. Leuta ended the season with one try, five points, five tackles, and one steal. Leuta missed the first stop in Minneapolis with the Loggerheads but hopped on the tour in San Jose, Ca. when PR7s hosted the Western Conference Finals at PayPal Park. The Loggerheads got out to a hot start, defeating the Golden State Retrievers 17-15 to advance to the finals. The Loggerheads downed the Rocky Mountain Experts 15-12, securing their first tournament win of the season and advancing to the PR7s Championship in Washington, D.C. in August. Leuta finished the tournament with one try. At the PR7s Championship at Audi Field, the Loggerheads faced the Experts in the opening match where they clinched a 21-14 win, advancing to the title game. It was a defensive battle against the Pittsburgh Steeltoes for the crown, but the Loggerheads secured a 10-5 win, marking their second straight PR7s Championship. Leuta totaled four tackles and one steel in the Championship tournament. 2022 Leuta was picked up by the Loggerheads for the three-stop circuit in 2022. After falling short in the first to tournaments in San Jose, Calif., and Washington, D.C., Leuta and the Loggerheads came from behind to secure the 2022 Men’s Premier Rugby Sevens Championship title in Austin, Tx. at Q2 Stadium. 2021 Leuta suited up with the Locals during the PR7s inaugural season. Leuta and the Locals took third place after defeating the Loonies 24-10 in the bronze medal match. Leuta recorded two tries throughout the day, scoring one in the third-place matchup and the other earlier in the day when they took a 26-5 loss against the future 2021 Champions, the Experts.

References

External links

Matai Leuta first international try: U.S. vs Portugal at 2015 Japan Sevens
American rugby union players 1990 births Living people Monterey Peninsula College alumni United States international rugby union players Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby sevens players for the United States Rugby union centres Rugby union wings Houston SaberCats players Chicago Hounds (rugby union) players San Diego Legion players Place of birth missing (living people) {{US-rugbyunion-bio-stub