Stephen Perofeta (born 12 March 1997) is a New Zealand

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

fly-half 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– ...

for in the

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 ...

. He is also a member of the

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

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 ...

squad, making his debut towards the end of the 2017 Super Rugby season.

Professional career

New Zealand Under 20s

In June 2017, Perofeta was called in as an emergency replacement for the New Zealand Under 20s rugby side at the World Rugby Under 20s World Championship. He started the final, and kicked seven conversions as New Zealand convincingly beat England 64–17 to win the tournament.

Blues 2017–present

Stephen Perofeta attempting penalty goal against the British and Irish Lions

Coming back from injury, Perofeta made his debut as a substitute player against 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 ...

Apia Apia () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Samoa, as well as the nation's only city. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō ...

, a match the Blues won 24–19. He scored a try and kicked two conversions, for a total of nine points in his first game. A week later, Perofeta started at first five as the Blues defeated the touring

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

Eden Park Eden Park is New Zealand's largest sports stadium, with a capacity of 50,000. Located in central Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it is three kilometres southwest of the CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and King ...

22–16. Perofeta played a key role in the victory, with his beautiful cut-out pass setting up

Rieko Ioane Rieko Edward Ioane (; born 18 March 1997) is a New Zealand professional rugby union footballer who plays as a wing or as a centre for New Zealand team Blues in Super Rugby and the New Zealand national team. In his youth career, he was select ...

for the game's opening try, then his unsuccessful penalty goal attempt lead to a

Sonny Bill Williams Sonny Bill Williams (born 3 August 1985) is a New Zealand heavyweight boxer, and a former professional rugby league and rugby union player and as of recently is working for Stan Sports. He is only the List of dual-code rugby internationals#New ...

try (which Perofeta duly converted) to give the Blues the halftime lead.

All Blacks

Perofeta made his international debut for the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

on 27 August 2022 against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

for 50 seconds.

References

External links

* * 1997 births Living people Taranaki rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union fullbacks Moana Pasifika players Blues (Super Rugby) players New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union players from Whanganui New Zealand international rugby union players People educated at Whanganui Collegiate School {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1990s-stub