Naulia Dawai (born 26 June 1987) is a

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

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. He primarily plays as a flanker. Dawai currently plays for the

Seattle Seawolves The Seattle Seawolves are an American professional rugby union team based in Tukwila, Washington. The team was founded in 2017 and competes in Major League Rugby (MLR), the top-level rugby union competition in the United States that began play ...

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). He previously played for the New England Free Jacks in North America's

competition. Internationally, he has represented at test level.

Early life

Dawai is originally from

Nadi Nadi (pronounced ) is the third-largest conurbation in Fiji. It is located on the western side of the main island of Viti Levu, and had a population of 42,284 at the most recent census, in 2007. A 2012 estimate showed that the population had ...

, a city on the island of Viti Levu in

. He attended

Marist Brothers High School Marist Brothers High School is a Roman Catholic all-boys' high school situated in Suva, the capital of Fiji. It is a school in the Marist tradition, founded in 1946 by the order of Marist Brothers, which has had a presence in Fiji since 1844. ...

Suva Suva () is the capital and largest city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rewa Province, Central Divi ...

, a city on the same island. Dawai moved to

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 ...

in 2011.

Rugby career

New Zealand provincial rugby

After moving to

in 2011, Dawai played club rugby in Southland. After two years at that level, he made the province's squad for the 2013 National Provincial Championship. Dawai featured mostly as a replacement, making one start for the side. He played eight times in the regular season, and also featured in Southland's play-off semi-final against the

Tasman Makos The Tasman Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere, a bay at the north end of the South Island in New Zealand. Headquartered in Nelson, TRU is New Zealand's newest provincial union, founded in 2006 with t ...

, coming on as a late replacement for John Hardie in a 49–28 defeat. The following season Dawai moved provinces to

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

. His first campaign with his new side saw him make just five appearances in the 2014 NPC with three of these coming as a replacement, as Otago finished second from bottom in the Championship Division. Dawai became a regular figure in the team in the 2015 season however. He made 11 appearances, five of these being starts and scored seven tries, making him the team's leading try scorer in the competition that year. This included three tries scored against

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 ...

on 13 September 2015, which saw him become the fourth player in to score a hat trick at

Eden Park Eden Park is New Zealand's largest sports stadium, with a capacity of 50,000. Located in central Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it is three kilometres southwest of the CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and King ...

in the National Provincial Championship. The campaign saw Otago reach the semi-finals of the Championship Division, where they were beaten 34–14 by

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 ...

. In the 2016 season he has continued to play regularly for the side, playing in all nine of the team's regular season games, starting six. He also continued his strong scoring form, with five tries in the competition. It was announced on 12 October 2016, ahead of the final game of the regular season, that Dawai would leave Otago. Despite this, he was named to start in the Otago team to face Manawatu the day after the move was finalised and played the full 80 minutes as Otago secured their spot in the play-offs for the second season in a row.

Connacht

In October 2016, it was announced that Dawai had signed a two-year deal with Irish provincial team

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

. He will join the team at the end of the 2016 National Provincial Championship. He was recommended to Connacht by Otago head coach Cory Brown, who had previously worked for the province. He made his debut for Connacht off the bench in the

2016–17 European Rugby Champions Cup The 2016–17 European Rugby Champions Cup was the third European Rugby Champions Cup championship (22nd overall), the annual rugby union club competition for teams from the top six nations in European rugby. The competition replaced the Heineken ...

against

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. T ...

scoring a try in the dying minutes which led to a conversion by Jack Carty which won Connacht the match.

International

In June 2016, Dawai was called up to the squad by head coach

John McKee John McKee may refer to: * John McKee (politician) (1771–1832), American politician * John McKee (American football) John Sasser McKee (July 16, 1877 – April 22, 1950) was an American college football coach and physician. He served as the hea ...

for the 2016 Pacific Nations Cup and a one-off test match against . He was a late replacement in the squad for

Dominiko Waqaniburotu Dominiko Maiwiriwiri Waqaniburotu (born 20 April 1986 in Fiji) is a Fijian rugby union footballer. He plays as a loose forward and lock for Section Paloise in France's Top 14, the highest division of domestic rugby union. He previously played ...

. After impressing in training, Dawai was named to start at blindside flanker against in the PNC opener. He made his debut for Fiji on 11 June 2016 in a 23–18 win, playing the entire 80 minutes. Dawai started again the following week against , playing the full game again as won 26–16 to claim the PNC title. Dawai made his third appearance for Fiji a week later again, when he started against Georgia, a game which the touring Georgians won 14–3. He was also part of the team that beat the touring Scotland side 22–27 in 2017 and is it only the second time the pacific islanders have won since their first win back in 1998.

References

External links

ItsRugby profile

Otago profile

Ultimate Rugby profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawai, Naulia 1987 births Living people Connacht Rugby players Expatriate rugby union players in Ireland Fijian expatriate rugby union players in the United States Fiji international rugby union players Fijian emigrants to New Zealand Fijian expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Otago rugby union players New England Free Jacks players People educated at Marist Brothers High School, Fiji Rugby union flankers Southland rugby union players Rugby union players from Nadi Fijian rugby union players Seattle Seawolves players