Riki John Flutey (born 10 February 1980) is a retired

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 it ...

player who played internationally for (winning 14 caps) and the

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

(1 cap). Born in

Wairarapa The Wairarapa (; ), a geographical region of New Zealand, lies in the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay Region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service ...

, New Zealand, he represented New Zealand in the U19 age group before qualifying to play for England through residency. A

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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 played for , and the

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

in New Zealand before moving to England in 2005. He then played for

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

and

London Wasps Wasps Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union team. They last played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby until being suspended on 12 October 2022. On 17 October 2022 the club entered administration, resulting in r ...

in England, Brive in France and

Ricoh Black Rams Black Rams Tokyo (formerly Ricoh Black Rams) is a Japanese rugby union team in the Japan Rugby League One. Placed 10th in the 2004-2005 season which meant it had to win a play-off against one of the top regional teams to stay in the league, as it d ...

in Japan.

Rugby career

Born in

, Flutey was a member of the New Zealand team that won the U19 World Cup in 1999. He first played for the New Zealand Māori in 2002. He made his representative debut for

Hawkes Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

in 1998, and from 1999 to 2005 he played for the

Wellington Lions The Wellington Rugby Football Union (known as the Wellington Lions for competition reasons) are a New Zealand governing body of rugby union in the New Zealand province of Wellington Region. The main stadium is Sky Stadium (formerly named West ...

in the

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship, o ...

. Flutey made his debut for the

against the Blues in the opening round of the 2002 Super 12. After making only 5 appearances in the

2005 Super 12 season The 2005 Super 12 season was the tenth season of the Super 12, contested by teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The season ran from February to May 2005, with each team playing all the others once. At the end of the regular season, ...

, Flutey moved to England to play for

. After his arrival at the Exiles the team achieved a play-off place in the 2005–06 Guinness Premiership, losing to the Leicester Tigers. That season, Flutey also started in the final of the

European Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception i ...

, losing to

Gloucester Rugby Gloucester Rugby are a professional rugby union club based in the West Country city of Gloucester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby, as well as in the European Rugby Champions Cup. The club was formed in ...

. At the end of the 2006–07 season, Flutey left London Irish to join

. He was rewarded for an excellent 2007/2008 début season with Wasps, winning the

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, and he was named Player of the Year at the PRA awards. Flutey decided to join

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

club Brive, from the 2009–10 season, joining other English internationals such as Andy Goode, Steve Thompson and

Jamie Noon Jamie Darren Noon (born 9 May 1979 in Goole) is a retired rugby union footballer who played at centre. Career Hard-running centre Noon joined the Newcastle Falcons for the 1998-99 Allied Dunbar Premiership, after a letter from one of his sch ...

. He played just 5 games for the club before his season was ended by a shoulder injury. Flutey rejoined

for the 2010/2011 season after just one season at Brive. He was contracted for 2 years but, by mutual consent, the contract was cancelled as his time in France was blighted by a shoulder injury. The club were not pleased that he choose to play for in the 2010 Six Nations Championship having just recovered from injury and not having featured for the club for months. He re-injured the same shoulder playing for England in the tournament and was ruled out of playing again during the 2009/2010 season. At the end of the 2012 season Flutey quit Wasps to join

England

Flutey qualified for England on residency grounds at the beginning of the 2008/09 season – he had announced on 14 May 2008 that he would be available for England selection as soon as he had completed his three-year residential qualification in September. On 1 July 2008, Flutey was named in Martin Johnson's first England Elite Squad. Flutey made his

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

debut against the

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Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

on 8 November 2008. He scored his first international try against in the 2009 Six Nations. After two narrow losses against and , he was influential in England's 34–10 victory over , scoring two tries and setting up another. In the next game against , he scored again and was chosen as the man of the match. His four tries in the 2009 Six Nations was the joint highest.

British & Irish Lions

He was selected for the

for their 2009 tour to South Africa. On 30 May 2009 he became the first player to play both for and against the Lions in tour matches. He played in the third and final

test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

of the tour.

Assault case

On 3 December 2001 Flutey was charged with grievous bodily harm in Rosario, Argentina. Argentinian teenager Gabriel Capotosti suffered a broken nose and right eye socket that required corrective plastic surgery in an unprovoked assault by Flutey outside a mini mart. Consequently, Flutey spent four nights in a police cell, then under house arrest at the team's hotel while the Wellington union arranged his bail of $US35,000 ($NZ84,800), before returning to New Zealand on 10 December 2001. Gabriel Capotosti's family later filed a civil suit against Flutey. The case was finally settled in December 2008, with the charges completely dropped on condition that Flutey does not reoffend for a set period.

References

External links

England profileBritish & Irish Lions profileWasps profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flutey, Riki 1980 births Living people English rugby union players New Zealand rugby union players Hurricanes (rugby union) players London Irish players Wasps RFC players CA Brive players England international rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England Rugby union centres Rugby union fly-halves Māori All Blacks players Ngāi Tahu people Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom New Zealand emigrants to the United Kingdom English expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate rugby union players in France People educated at Te Aute College Wellington rugby union players English expatriate rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from New Zealand Black Rams Tokyo players Expatriate rugby union players in Japan