Melani Matavao (born 19 November 1995) is a Samoan professional

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 scrum-half for the Samoa national team.

Club career

Matavao has come through Samoa's PPS Super 9 competition as a key player for the Aana Chiefs. In 2018 he was given a place with

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under World Rugby's Pacific Combine scheme, playing 7 games in the 2018 Mitre 10 Cup season. In 2019 he signed for the Asia Pacific Dragons, but did not play any matches with the team.

International career

In 2015 Matavao was selected for the Samoan Under 20 side for the U20 World Championship in

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 2016 he was selected for Samoa A. He was selected for the Samoan national team in 2017, making his debut in a test against Scotland in

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. He played for Samoa in the 2018 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup. He was decisive in Samoa's qualification for the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

, scoring two tries in a qualifier against Germany. In February 2019 he was selected for the first time for the

Samoa Sevens The Samoa national rugby sevens team, referred to as Samoa Sevens or Manu Samoa 7s, competes in the annual World Rugby Sevens Series. Representing the polynesian country of Samoa, with a population of about 202,000, the team competes against so ...

. He was then named to Samoa's Rugby World Cup squad. After the world cup, he played in the 2020 world sevens series. Matavao was selected for the Samoan squad to the

2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the eighth edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens organised by World Rugby. The 2022 tournament, comprising 24 men's and 16 women's teams as previously, was played over three days in one venue in September. It ...

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References

External links

* 1995 births Living people Samoan rugby union players Samoan rugby sevens players Samoa international rugby union players Rugby union scrum-halves Commonwealth Games competitors for Samoa Rugby sevens players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games 2019 Rugby World Cup players 2023 Rugby World Cup players {{Samoa-rugbyunion-bio-stub