Vaovasamanaia Seilala Mapusua (born 27 February 1980) is a retired Samoan rugby player who last played for the Kubota Spears of the Japanese Top League. Prior to his move to Japan in 2011, he also had long stints with the Highlanders in

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 London Irish 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 ...

. He is currently the head coach of Manu Samoa having been appointed in 2020.

Playing career

New Zealand

Mapusua was born in Moto’otua, Samoa, but grew up in Wellington, New Zealand and attended school at Wesley College in Auckland moving south to join

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

for the 2000 provincial season. His strong performances for Otago saw him earn a contract with the Highlanders for the

2002 Super 12 season The 2002 Super 12 season was the seventh season of the Super 12, contested by teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The season ran from February to May 2002, with each team playing all the others once. At the end of the regular sea ...

and he remained a fixture for both Otago and the Highlanders through 2006. By the time he left New Zealand he was only the fifth back to have played more than 50 games for the Highlanders.

England

Mapusua joined London Irish for the 2006–07 Guinness Premiership, and immediately established himself as a top player for the side, scoring 4 tries in 22 matches. He was named the team's top newcomer for his efforts. In 2008–09, he would have a towering season for London Irish, scoring 9 tries in 27 matches in all competitions and leading the club to the Premiership final. At the conclusion of the season he was named the PRA Players' Player of the Season. He continued as a regular starter through 2011, and by the conclusion of his stay in London had played 125 games with the side including 91 Premiership matches and 23

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

contests.

Japan

In January 2011, Mapusua announced that he was signing in Japan with the Kubota Spears for the 2011–12 season.

International Play

Mapusua made his debut for Samoa against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

on 17 June 2006 and represented Samoa in the

2007 and 2011 Rugby World Cup 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...

. He has also been selected to the touring Pacific Islanders on three occasions. Both of his test tries have come against Wales at the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...

- for the Pacific Islanders on 11 November 2006, and for Samoa on 13 November 2009.

Coaching

Mapusua retired from rugby in 2016. After returning to New Zealand he worked as a Coaching Development Officer for Otago Rugby. In August 2020 Mapusua was appointed coach of Manu Samoa. In December 2020 he was granted the title of Vaovasamanaia.

References

External links