So'otala Fa'aso'o (born 2 October 1994) is a

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 ...

-born, Samoan

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 as a loose forward for

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

in the

Premiership Rugby 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 ...

Senior career

Fa'aso'o has had something of a nomadic career which started in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

with his local province, Auckland. He made 2 appearances for them before shifting south the following season to join Manawatu. He didn't manage to make the field for them so was forced to drop down to New Zealand's

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 ...

with Wairarapa Bush in 2015. Solid performances there saw him earn another shot at

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in t ...

rugby with the

Pukekohe Pukekohe is a town in the Auckland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the southern edge of the Auckland Region, it is in South Auckland, between the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and the mouth of the Waikato River. Th ...

-based Counties Manukau in 2016 where he played all 11 games as the Steelers reached the Premiership Semi-Finals before going down to eventual winners . His appearances in New Zealand brought him to the attention of French-side Racing 92 who announced in November 2016 that they had signed Fa'aso'o on a contract until the end of the

2016–17 Top 14 season The 2016–17 Top 14 competition was the 118th French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Two new teams from the 2015–16 Pro D2 season were promoted to Top 14 this year, Bayonne and Lyon in plac ...

. On 4 July 2022, Fa'aso'o would move to England to join

in the

from the 2022-23 season.

International career

Fa'aso'o was a member of the Samoa Under 20 side which competed in the

2014 IRB Junior World Championship The 2014 IRB Junior World Championship was the seventh annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in Auckland, New Zealand by rugby's governing body, World Rugby, then known as the Internation ...

, making 3 appearances and scoring 1 try.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fa'aso'o So'otala 1994 births Living people New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union players from Auckland Rugby union number eights Auckland rugby union players Counties Manukau rugby union players Racing 92 players CA Brive players New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent Expatriate rugby union players in France Wairarapa Bush rugby union players