Sekonaia Kalou (born April 6, 1984) is a Fijian 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 is also known by the name Sekonaia Qaranaqio. He has also represented Fiji at Netball.

Rugby career

Club career

Sekonaia played lock for the Kaikorai Rugby Football Club and for

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 ...

in 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 has also played for the 2nd Division New Zealand club North Otago with whom he won the

Heartland Championship The Heartland Championship competition, known for sponsorship reasons as the Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship, is a domestic rugby union competition in New Zealand. It was founded in 2006 as one of two successor competitions to the countr ...

playing alongside fellow Fijian players Viliame Veikoso, Noa Soqeta and Waitisoni Lotawa. After playing for North Otago he made his way into the 1st Division team Otago in 2007. He also played professionally for US Bressane in France and for

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 ...

where he won an Eccellenza. After he left Italy in 2015 he returned to Fiji to captain the Nadroga Stallions in Fiji's 2016 Skipper Cup. In 2017 he was on the move again joining Waverley Harvesting Border in New Zealand club rugby.

International Rugby

Kalou made his International debut for on 5 June 2010 in 49–3 loss against at Canberra Stadium, he played in all of Fiji's matches for the 2010 Pacific Nations Cup and was selected to tour with the Fijian XV during November 2010 playing in defeats against and ; and a draw against 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 ...

. He was selected as part of the Fijian squad for

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...

and played against and . His final international was against at

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 ...

Personal life

His brother is fellow professional rugby player

Api Ratuniyarawa Api Ratuniyarawa (born 11 July 1986) is a professional rugby union player who currently players for English Premiership side London Irish. He was named in Fiji's squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. In September 2016, he signed for Northampton ...

. After his final appearance for in 2012 Kalou met Margaret Mary Steven, the pair got married in December 2017. As well as rugby Kalou has also represented Fiji in Archery and Men's Netball. In 2016 Kalou was named as Fiji's netball player of the year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalou, Sekonaia 1984 births Living people Fijian rugby union players North Otago rugby union players Fijian expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in New Zealand Fijian expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand I-Taukei Fijian people People from Sigatoka Fiji international rugby union players People educated at Suva Grammar School Rugby union flankers Rugby union locks