Samuela Vatuniveivuke Kerevi (born 27 September 1993) is a Fijian-born Australian

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 currently playing for

Suntory Sungoliath Tokyo Sungoliath (formerly known as Suntory Sungoliath) is owned by the Suntory beverage company and is one of the Japanese rugby union teams in the Top League. The team is based in Fuchū, Tokyo, as is their local rival Toshiba Brave Lupus. The ...

in the Japanese

Top League Japan Rugby League One (formerly the Top League) is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the ...

. His usual position is

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

. He previously played for the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union club competition ...

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 ...

and has played for the Australian national team.

Family and early life

Samuela Kerevi was born in

Viseisei Viseisei () is a village at Vuda Point on the west coast of Viti Levu island, in Ba Province of Fiji. History According to tradition, it is the oldest settlement in Fiji, established by Lutunasobasoba when the first Melanesian canoes beached at V ...

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 ...

. He moved with his family to Australia at aged 4. His father, Nimilote Kerevi, is a former Fiji international soccer player. His brother Josua Kerevi has also played representative rugby. Kerevi attended

Brisbane State High School , motto_translation = Knowledge is Power , city = South Brisbane , state = Queensland , country = Australia , coordinates = , type = Public, selective, co-educational, secondary, ...

, and represented Queensland at the Australian Schools Rugby Championships in 2011. Kerevi obtained Australian citizenship in August 2016.

Rugby career

In 2012, Samu Kerevi (his ref name was Musashi) played Premier Rugby for GPS Old Boys in Brisbane. He was selected alongside his brother Josua in the Fiji Under-20 team for the

2012 IRB Junior World Championship The 2012 IRB Junior World Championship was the fifth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. This competition replaced the now defunct Under 19 and Under 21 world championships. The event was organised in South A ...

in South Africa. In the opening pool match against Wales, he scored the first try of the tournament and he followed that up with a double against Samoa. Kerevi was a member of the ARU's National Academy in 2012 and 2013. He was selected for Australia Under-20 to play in the

2013 IRB Junior World Championship The 2013 IRB Junior World Championship was the sixth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in France by rugby's governing body, the IRB. A total of twelve nations played in the tournament ...

in France, but was unable to take part due to a shoulder injury. In July 2013, he signed an extended player squad contract with the Queensland Reds for the 2014 Super Rugby season. In June 2016, he was included in the 33-member

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

team for the

2016 England rugby union tour of Australia In June 2016, England national rugby union team, England played a three-test series against as part of the 2016 mid-year rugby union internationals, 2016 mid-year rugby union tests. They played the Wallabies across the three weeks of the June Int ...

. He made his debut at

inside centre 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– ...

against

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 ...

, in the defeat in Brisbane. Australia would go on to be white-washed in the series 3–0. Kerevi continues to play regularly for the Australian team and featured in their squad for the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

. Following the world cup Kerevi signed with Japanese club

who he is currently playing for in the

. Kerevi was a member of the Australian men's rugby seven's squad at the

Tokyo 2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

. The team came third in their pool round and then lost to Fiji 19-nil in the quarterfinal. Full details.

Reference list

External links

Stats on itsrugby.fr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerevi, Samu 1993 births Australian rugby union players Australian people of I-Taukei Fijian descent Queensland Reds players Brisbane City (rugby union) players Rugby union centres People educated at Brisbane State High School Living people Sportspeople from Lautoka I-Taukei Fijian people People from Ba Province Fijian emigrants to Australia Australia international rugby union players Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby sevens players of Australia Tokyo Sungoliath players Rugby sevens players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games