Samuela Vunisa (born 19 August 1988) 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 ...

an-born

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

professional

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 who currently plays for Italian

Serie A Elite The Serie A Elite is the premier women's futsal league in the Italy, organized by the Italian Football Federation.The competition, which is played under UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations e ...

team

Petrarca Padova Petrarca Rugby is a rugby union club from Padua, Italy, currently competing in the top tier of the Italian rugby union, the Top10. Founded in 1947, the team is the rugby union branch of the Unione Sportiva Petrarca, an omnisport club that inclu ...

. Powerful and athletic, Vunisa is an option across the back-row due to the combination of his speed, ball-carrying ability, physical strength and ability at the breakdown.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

His career began in 2009, where he played 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 ...

side

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

in the first tier domestic competition in the country, the

ITM Cup ITM may stand for: Education * ITM Global School, an English medium co-educational day school in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India * ITM Law School, one of the professional graduate schools of ITM University * ITM-IFM, Mumbai, India * Institut Tekn ...

. He went on loan in the 2011-12 rugby season to

Rugby Calvisano Rugby Calvisano is an Italian rugby union club currently competing in the Top12. They are based in Calvisano (Province of Brescia), in Lombardy. They were founded in 1970 by a group of players: Tonino Montanari, Gianluigi Vaccari and Alfredo Gav ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, and impressed as his team won the top level domestic league and the Excellence Trophy. In the Summer of 2012, he returned to

. However, after negotiations lasting several weeks, the coach of

, Andrea Cavinato, announced in an interview with newspaper ''Giornale di Brescia'' in July 2012 of having reached an agreement for the termination of Vunisa's contract with

, allowing him to return to

Calvisano Calvisano (Brescian: ) is a ''comune'' in the Italy, Italian province of Brescia, in Lombardy. It is the manufacturing base of Lones Spa, manufacturer of Fly Flot shoes. Agritech is a known fiberglass silos company. Sport Its rugby union team, ...

for the 2012–13 season. Vunisa has been drafted to

Marr Marr (Scottish Gaelic: ''Màrr'') is one of six committee areas in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It has a population of 34,038 (2001 Census). Someone from Marr is called a ''Màrnach'' in Scottish Gaelic. Etymology The genesis of the name ''Marr ...

in the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

for the 2017–18 season. Vunisa signed back with

for season 2018–19. He played with Calvisano until 2022−2023 season.

Professional career

In the summer of 2013 he was signed by

Zebre Zebre Parma (, meaning "Zebras") are an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the United Rugby Championship and EPCR competitions from the 2012–13 season. They are based in Parma (Emilia-Romagna), Italy. They are operated by the ...

, one of the two professional Italian clubs. Zebre played in the

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

, a multi-national league. He later signed for

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

in the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

in England. On 26 May 2017 it was announced that Vunisa would sign for the

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

. He signed a two-year deal until 2019. He made 5 appearances for the Warriors scoring one try. He left the club at the end of the 2017–18 season.

International career

He played underage rugby for both the

an National Under-19 and Under-20 teams. He qualified for the

Italy national rugby union team The Italy national rugby union team (Italian: ''Squadra nazionale italiana di rugby'') represents Italy in men's international rugby union. The team is known as ''gli Azzurri'' (the light-blues). Savoy blue is the common colour of the national ...

in Autumn 2014 under the IRB 3-year residency rule, and was called up into the squad for the 2014 Autumn Rugby Internationals, winning his first cap on 22 November 2014 against

South Africa national rugby union team The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jerse ...

were in contention for most of the game but conceded two late tries to lose 22–6.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vunisa, Samuela 1988 births Living people Fijian rugby union players Rugby union flankers Italian rugby union players Italy international rugby union players Fijian expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in England Rugby union players from Suva I-Taukei Fijian people People educated at Whanganui Collegiate School Glasgow Warriors players Saracens F.C. players Marr RFC players Rugby Calvisano players People educated at Suva Grammar School 2015 Rugby World Cup players Naturalised citizens of Italy Naturalised sports competitors Fijian expatriate sportspeople in England Fijian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate rugby union players in Italy Fijian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Italian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Italian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate rugby union players in Scotland Fijian expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Expatriate rugby union players in New Zealand