Murphy Vaiaoga Utuariki Taramai (born 17 August 1992) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

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, of Cook Islands and Samoan heritage, who currently plays as a loose forward for in New Zealand's domestic Mitre 10 Cup and for the in the international

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 ...

competition. He previously represented the All Blacks Sevens team during the

2014–15 Sevens World Series The 2014–15 Sevens World Series, known for sponsorship reasons as the HSBC Sevens World Series, was the 16th annual series of rugby sevens tournaments for national rugby sevens teams. The Sevens World Series has been run by World Rugby since 19 ...

Youth career

Taramai was initially a professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer of some pedigree during his days attending

Upper Hutt College Upper Hutt College is a state school, state Mixed-sex education, co-educational secondary school located in Trentham, New Zealand, Trentham in the city of Upper Hutt, New Zealand. The school opened in 1962 as the city's second state secondary sc ...

just outside of

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

. His side remained 3 years unbeaten with Taramai playing a key role in the side. This form earned him a trial with

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

side, the Penrith Panthers in 2011. Unfortunately for him, things didn't work out as well as expected in Australia and he returned home to New Zealand in 2012 and turned his attention to rugby sevens.

Domestic Sevens career

Upon returning to New Zealand in 2012 he began playing sevens rugby with Wellington and was a member of the side which lifted the national title in 2014.

Senior career

Taramai played one game for during their largely chaotic and ill-fated campaign in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

. Unable to earn a contract in 2015, he headed north to join up with where he enjoyed a memorable debut season in

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 ...

. He started all 12 matches as Harbour lifted the Mitre 10 Cup Championship and earned promotion to the Premiership ahead of the 2017 season.

Super Rugby

Taramai's immediate impact at Mitre 10 Cup level with North Harbour saw him swiftly receive attention from

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 ...

-based Super Rugby franchise, the , and he was named as a member of their squad for the

2017 Super Rugby season The 2017 Super Rugby season was the 22nd season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. It was the second season featuring an expand ...

International

Taramai represented New Zealand at sevens level between 2014 and 2015, appearing at 4 tournaments in which he played 19 matches and scored 1 try.

Career honours

North Harbour * Mitre 10 Cup Championship –

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taramai, Murphy 1992 births Living people New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union number eights Wellington rugby union players North Harbour rugby union players People educated at Upper Hutt College New Zealand international rugby sevens players New Zealand male rugby sevens players Rugby union flankers Blues (Super Rugby) players American Raptors players Hurricanes (rugby union) players Shimizu Koto Blue Sharks players