Robert Piva (born 4 November 1966) is a former New Zealand international

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 who played in the 1980s and 1990s. A forward, Piva played for

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the c ...

and was a foundation player for the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

Playing career

Junior Kiwis The Junior Kiwis side represents New Zealand in the sport of rugby league. They are commonly known as the Junior Kiwis, after the native bird of that name. Since 2010, they are an under-20s side, with players selected from the NRL, Intrust Super ...

representative, Piva played for Waterside, St. George, Randwick, Porirua City and the Kapiti Bears in the

Wellington Rugby League Wellington Rugby League is the local sporting body responsible for the administration of Rugby league in the Greater Wellington region. It is responsible for the local competition of the same name, as well as its representative team, the Wellingto ...

and represented Wellington 40 times over seven years.''1986 Lion Red Rugby League Annual'',

New Zealand Rugby Football League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year.Coffey and Wood ''T ...

, 1986. p.128 In 1993, he was selected for

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 ...

on their tour of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. He made his Test debut for New Zealand in their 24–19 win over

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

. He played eight tour games before fracturing his eye socket while tackling Andy Farrell in a game against the Great Britain under-21 side. In 1994, Piva played for the Taranaki Rockets in the

Lion Red Cup The Lion Red Cup was a New Zealand domestic rugby league competition that ran from 1994 to 1996 sponsored by brewers Lion Nathan. It was created due to the increase in public awareness of domestic rugby league due to the Auckland Warriors being a ...

.''Lion Red Rugby League Annual 1994'',

, 1994. p.118 Halfway through the season he was signed by

, spending a season with the club. In 1995, after the English season had ended, he signed with the

in the

Australian Rugby League The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australian Rugby Footbal ...

. In Round 11 of the

1995 ARL season The 1995 ARL premiership was the 88th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the first to be run by the Australian Rugby League following the hand-over of the Premiership's administration by the New South Wales Rugby Leagu ...

, he made his first grade in the Cowboys' 14–44 loss to the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

. He played nine games for the club that season, coming off the bench in all of them. At the end of the season, he was named in the

Western Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); a ...

squad for

1995 Rugby League World Cup The 1995 Rugby League World Cup was held during October in the United Kingdom. It was the eleventh staging of the Rugby League World Cup and was marketed as the Halifax Centenary World Cup, reflecting the tournament's sponsorship and the fact ...

but did not play a game. In 1996, he represented Western Samoa at the

Super League World Nines The Super League World Nines (known as the ''Gatorade Super League World Nines'' due to sponsorship), was a pre-season rugby league nines tournament between national sides. Set up in the midst of the Super League war and created in opposition to t ...

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 ...

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 ...

.Super League World Nines 1996
''The Internet Vault'' via ''web.archive.org'' In 2001 he played in the

Bartercard Cup The Bartercard Cup (successor of the Lion Red Cup) was the top level rugby league club competition in New Zealand from 2000 until 2007. For the entire life of the tournament it was sponsored by Bartercard. The cup was administered by the New Zeala ...

for the

Porirua Pumas The Porirua Pumas were a team representing the Porirua region in New Zealand's Bartercard Cup Rugby league competition. The Pumas were one of two Wellington-based teams in the competition, the other being the Wainuiomata Lions. They were re ...

.Round 7 Bartercard Cup teams
''rleague.com'', 26 April 2001

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piva, Robert 1966 births Living people New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent Samoa national rugby league team players Samoan rugby league players New Zealand national rugby league team players Taranaki rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players North Queensland Cowboys players Porirua Pumas players Kapiti Coast Bears players Randwick Kingfishers players St. George Saints players Porirua Vikings players Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows Junior Kiwis players New Zealand expatriate rugby league players in England Wakefield Trinity players Wellington rugby league team players New Zealand expatriate rugby league players in Australia