Valenese Malifa (born 10 September 1985, in

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...

) is an American

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 ...

former

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

. He has now turned his career to professional coaching in the US for Major League Rugby. He assisted Atlanta’s team, Rugby ATL, from 2018-2020 and has since moved to Dallas to coach the Dallas Jackals in their inaugural year. As a professional player, he was a member of the

United States national rugby union team The United States men's national rugby union team represents the United States in men's international rugby union. Nicknamed the Eagles, it is controlled by USA Rugby, the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United Stat ...

from 2007 until 2012, and competed in three Rugby World Cups including participating with the squad at the 2007 Rugby World Cup

Youth

Nese Malifa played rugby since he was 17 years old. He played for Auckland and Samoa Rugby Clubs. During his stint in the Pacific Islands, Malifa was a representative rugby player in Auckland in both the XV’s and Sevens game, as well as playing representative rugby in Samoa. Malifa’s talents were noticed by selectors while playing for Ponsonby and then the Eden Club in Auckland. Lesser known are Malifa’s talents in other sporting codes, as Malifa represented Samoa in Cricket.

Career

Malifa played club rugby since moving to the U.S. mainland in 2006, first with Belmont Shore, who Malifa helped reach the 2006 national championship. Malifa moved to Denver in 2010, where he has been playing with the Glendale Raptors. He has now turned his career to professional coaching in the US for Major League Rugby. He assisted Atlanta’s team, Rugby ATL, from 2018-2020 and has since moved to Dallas to coach the Dallas Jackals in their inaugural year, 2022. During his professional career, Malifa played flyhalf for the USA Hawks match against Canada West in the 2007

North America 4 North America 4, also known as IRB North America 4, was a North American rugby union competition launched in 2006. The competition was contested between two newly formed representative teams from each of Canada and the United States. The competit ...

, notching all of his team's points through two converted tries and two penalty goals from two attempts. Malifa played flyhalf for the

United States national team The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

since his debut against the England Saxons in 2007. Malifa made two appearances at the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

in France, and played 3 matches for the U.S. at the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...

in New Zealand. Malifa's highest scoring match to date was against Russia in the

2011 Churchill Cup The 2011 Churchill Cup, the ninth and final edition of an annual international rugby union tournament, took place in Northampton, Esher, Gloucester and Worcester. This was just the second time in the tournament's history in which England played h ...

, where Malifa kicked 2 penalties and 3 conversions to lead the team in scoring with 12 points, as the U.S. edged out Russia 32-25. As of December 2011, Malifa has tallied 24 caps and 63 points for the U.S. national team. Malifa played flyhalf 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 ...

, and was known for his excellent drop kick. Malifa led the U.S. in scoring during the 2009-10

IRB Sevens World 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 ...

with 120 points, helping the U.S. to its best ever 10th-place finish.

Family

He is the twin brother Ata Malifa.

References

External links

Player Profile
*http://web.usarugby.org/cgi-bin/viadesto/natteams/mnt/15ProfileDetail.pl?playerId=367 {{DEFAULTSORT:Malifa, Nese 1985 births Living people Rugby union scrum-halves American rugby union players American Samoan rugby union players Male rugby sevens players United States international rugby union players United States international rugby sevens players American Raptors players Rugby ATL players