Melani Nanai (born 3 August 1993) is a Samoan

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 an outside back for the .

Early career

Born and raised in Samoa, Nanai came to New Zealand to attend high school at De La Salle College in the southern part of Auckland. He later returned home to his native Samoa at the end of his 5th form in 2009 before returning to New Zealand in 2011. He worked packing boxes and doing dispatch in

East Tāmaki East Tāmaki is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It is a largely industrial area adjacent to a rapidly growing population. Prior to the 1960s it was largely a dairy farming area. A landmark is Smales Mountain which in 2010 has the remains of ...

while playing club rugby, first for Otahuhu and latterly for Manukau Rovers where he came under the wing of

All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

legend,

Frank Bunce Frank Eneri Bunce (born 4 February 1962) is a retired New Zealand rugby union player and coach. He played international rugby for both Western Samoa and New Zealand in the 1990s, appearing in the 1991 and 1995 World Cups. He played in four int ...

. His brother's, Kitiona and Codemeru Vai, are currently contracted to the All Blacks 7's squad.

Senior career

Although not initially named in the Auckland squad for the

2014 ITM Cup Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unrele ...

, Nanai's impressive form at club level for Manukau Rovers saw him break into their top team and make 5 appearances during the campaign which ended with him being named development player of the year. A first team squad member 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 ...

, Nanai scored 3 tries in 6 games as Auckland finished as Premiership runner-up, going down narrowly to in the final and this time he was named as Auckland's rookie of the year.

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 ...

was not such a good year for Auckland, as they finished 5th on the log, while Nanai's try scoring and appearance stats were the same as the previous year, 3 tries in 6 matches. In addition to playing for Auckland at provincial level, he has also represented them in sevens rugby as well as winning the World 10s Championship with the . He joined

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 Worcester Warriors ahead of the 2019–20 season. He remained at the club until the end of the 2022 season before returning to New Zealand. In July 2022, Melani signed to play in the NPC for Bay Of Plenty alongside brothers Kitiona and Codemeru Vai for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. He went on to play for the Crusaders Super Rugby side in 2023 under the guidance of Scott Robertson.

Super Rugby

Just 5 appearances at provincial level were enough to convince Auckland-based Super Rugby franchise the Blues to name him in their wider training group for the

2015 Super Rugby season The 2015 Super Rugby season was the 20th season of Super Rugby and the fifth season featuring an expanded 15-team format. For sponsorship reasons, this competition was known as Asteron Life Super Rugby in Australia, Investec Super Rugby in New ...

. He enjoyed a hugely impressive debut campaign playing at Super Rugby level, making 13 starts in the outside back positions and scoring 3 tries.

Tana Umaga Jonathan Ionatana Falefasa Umaga (; ; born 27 May 1973) is a New Zealand former rugby union footballer and former captain of the national team, the All Blacks. Since 2016 he has been coach of the Blues in the Super Rugby competition. He played ...

replaced Sir

John Kirwan John Kirwan may refer to: * John Óge Kirwan (fl. 1530–1531), mayor of Galway * Sir John Kirwan (1650–1721), Irish entrepreneur * John Kirwan (cricketer) (1816–1899), English cricketer * John Kirwan (politician) (1869–1949), Australian ...

as Blues head coach ahead of the

2016 Super Rugby season The 2016 Super Rugby season was the 21st season of Super Rugby and the first season featuring an expanded 18-team format. It was also the first season that teams outside Australia, New Zealand and South Africa featured, with the Jaguares from Ar ...

and he promoted Nanai to their first team squad. Again he was a regular through 2016, mostly in the fullback position vacated by

Charles Piutau Salesi Tu'ipulotu "Charles" Piutau (born 31 October 1991) is a New Zealand rugby union player. He plays in the fullback (and occasionally wing) position for England club Bristol Bears in the Premiership, and formerly for New Zealand's national ...

and this time he scored 5 times in 11 appearances. Melani continued to play for the Blues until 2019, gaining 64 appearances for the franchise and in the same year winning the award for Blues’ Players Player of the Year. In 2023 he returned to Super Rugby in a move to the Crusaders on a one year deal.

International

Nanai was a member of the Samoa Under-20 team which competed in the

2013 IRB Junior World Championship The 2013 IRB Junior World Championship was the sixth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in France by rugby's governing body, the IRB. A total of twelve nations played in the tournament ...

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where he scored 3 tries in 5 appearances. He also played in the number 15 jersey for the

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 ...

in their 31–31 draw against 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 scored the game's opening try in the 4th minute.

Super Rugby statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nanai, Melani 1993 births Living people Samoan rugby union players Rugby union wings Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union centres Auckland rugby union players Blues (Super Rugby) players Worcester Warriors players Rugby union players from Apia Barbarian F.C. players Samoan emigrants to New Zealand Bay of Plenty rugby union players Crusaders (rugby union) players