Vereniki Goneva (born 5 April 1984) is a Fijian

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 ...

footballer who plays for

Mont-de-Marsan Mont-de-Marsan (; Occitan: ''Lo Mont de Marçan'') is a commune and capital of the Landes department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. Population Military installations The French Air and Space Force operates the ''Constantin Rozan ...

in France's

Pro D2 Rugby Pro D2, also known as Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was in ...

, the second division. He plays as a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

. Goneva made his debut in English rugby for Rotherham against Northampton Saints in the RFU Championship in the 2007–2008 season. He played for

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

from 2012 to 2016, where he won the Aviva Premiership title, before signing with

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

. He has been

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 ...

's top try scorer during two seasons.

Career

Goneva was first spotted by the Fiji sevens coach,

Waisale Serevi Waisale Tikoisolomoni Serevi (born 20 May 1968) is a Fijian former rugby union football player and coach, and is a member of the World Rugby Hall of Fame. Serevi is renowned for his achievements in rugby sevens, while also enjoying a long car ...

playing as a wing for

Nadi Nadi (pronounced ) is the third-largest conurbation in Fiji. It is located on the western side of the main island of Viti Levu, and had a population of 42,284 at the most recent census, in 2007. A 2012 estimate showed that the population had ...

in the Digicel Cup competition and he was impressed by his workrate and included him in the 2007-08 IRB Sevens World Series and he made his debut in the 2nd leg, George Sevens where Fiji lost in the cup final to

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 ...

. He had interest in power lifting stating that it influenced his powerful style of play. In the same year he played in the Colonial Cup for the

Western Crusaders The Western Crusaders is a Fijian former rugby union team that had a franchise area coverering Lautoka, Nadi, and Yasawa. The team played in the Colonial Cup from 2004 to 2008 before the competition ceased in 2008. History The franchise was one ...

team but lost in the finals to

Coastal Stallions The Coastal Stallions is a former Fijian rugby union team. The Coastal Stallions is a Fijian former rugby union team that had a franchise area coverering Nadroga-Navosa, Namosi, Serua and Malolo. The team played in Fiji's premier rugby union co ...

. He was selected into the

Fiji Barbarians The Fiji Barbarians is a Fijian former rugby union representative team that played in the Pacific Rugby Cup from 2006 to 2010. The other Fijian team in the Cup was the Fiji Warriors. The players were drawn from the Fijian domestic competitions. The ...

team for the 2007 Pacific Rugby Cup though the team wasn't able to make the semis, his impressive runs continued and after making his debut for the Fiji sevens team, he jetted off to

Rotherham Titans Rotherham Rugby Union Football Club, or Rotherham Titans is a professional rugby union team from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, currently playing in the fourth tier of the English rugby union league system, following their relegation from the Nat ...

. After a short stint, he came back and rejoined the sevens team. He co-captained the team in the

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

leg. after the 2009 season, he joined the Fiji 15's team for the

2009 IRB Pacific Nations Cup The 2009 Pacific Nations Cup is a rugby union tournament held between five national sides on the Pacific Rim: Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and the Junior All Blacks. The New Zealand Māori team that won the tournament last year will no longer take pa ...

where he was instrumental in the win against

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

, coming off the bench and scoring the match-winning try and 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 ...

where he set up the match-winning try to Number 8, Netani Talei. He later got an offer which he took, to play in the French

competition for

US Colomiers Union sportive Colomiers Rugby or US Colomiers is a French rugby union club currently competing in Pro D2, the second level of the French rugby pyramid. They had been relegated from Pro D2 after finishing last in the 2006-07 season, but earned p ...

. He was included in the 30-member Fiji squad for the 2009 Autumn Internationals Goneva was included in the Fiji team for the

2011 IRB Pacific Nations Cup The 2011 Pacific Nations Cup was a rugby union tournament held between the four national sides on the Pacific Rim: Fiji national rugby union team, Fiji, Japan national rugby union team, Japan, Samoa national rugby union team, Samoa and Tonga nati ...

. After a successful outing, he was selected in the 22 to play 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 ...

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

. He came off the bench and scored an outstanding individual try. He was later selected to play against Tonga in the Punjas Rugby series. He was selected into the Fiji team to the

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 he made his world cup debut on the right wing for Fiji against

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. He scored 4 tries and won the Man of the Match award as well. Goneva played rugby in the ProD2 for

Tarbes Tarbes (; Gascon: ''Tarba'') is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region of southwestern France. It is the capital of Bigorre and of the Hautes-Pyrénées. It has been a commune since 1790. It was known as ''Turba'' ...

between 2008 and 2011 and was named best centre in 2012 in the ProD2.

Leicester Tigers

In May 2012, Goneva signed a contract to join

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 ...

team

. Goneva claimed that the only reason he chose to play for the Tigers was because their Rugby director,

Richard Cockerill Richard Cockerill (born 16 December 1970) is an English rugby union coach and former player, he was the national team's interim head coach between Eddie Jones and Steve Borthwick. He played as a hooker, spending the majority of his career at ...

personally flew to France just to speak to him regarding him joining the club. Goneva scored a try on debut against

London Welsh London Welsh Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Cymry Llundain) was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, ...

in the 2012–13 English Premiership. He scored a try as well as setting one up for his other winger in the 2012–13 English Premiership Final helping his team win the title. Even though he was injured for most of the season, he played 11 games for them and scored 5 tries. In the 2013–14 English Premiership; in his first game against

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in Administration (law), administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top ...

, he scored a stunning individual try to give him team a bonus-point win, a week later, he started at his preferred position at 13 and scored another brilliant try against Bath but it wasn't enough as the Tigers lost but Goneva's try secured them a bonus-point loss. He started at outside centre again in their game against the Chiefs due to a long term injury to their incumbent centre,

Manu Tuilagi Etuale Manusamoa Tuilagi (born 18 May 1991), known as Manu Tuilagi, is a rugby union player for Sale Sharks. He has played internationally for and the British & Irish Lions. Born in Fogapoa, Samoa, Tuilagi has five elder brothers who played f ...

, scoring a try late in the first half, his performance got him the Man of the Match award as well. In March 2014, Goneva scored 2 brilliant tries against

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

taking his tally to 10 for the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

which has led to discussion by the club to try to hold on to Goneva for another season as he is in talks to return to France with Top 14 side,

Castres Castres (; ''Castras'' in the Languedocian dialect, Languedocian dialect of Occitan language, Occitan) is the sole Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Tarn (department), Tarn Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administ ...

. In April 2014, Goneva re-signed with the Tigers for another two season. In May 2014, Goneva was crowned 2014 players' player of the year at Wednesday night's

Rugby Players' Association The Rugby Players Association (RPA) is a trade union representing athletes who currently play or have played rugby union in England at a professional or semi-professional level. The RPA is the representative body and collective voice of profession ...

awards dinner in Battersea. Goneva started the new season the same way he ended the last season when he scored a hat-trick of tries against

taking his try tally for the Tigers to 27. In the 2015–16 European Rugby Champions Cup, he scored a try in every game finishing with 6 tries in 5 matches in the Knock-out round making him the competition's top try scorer alongside

Thomas Waldrom Thomas Waldrom (born 28 April 1983) is a former rugby union player who played for Exeter Chiefs in the English Premiership and represented England from 2012 to 2013. Born in Lower Hutt, New Zealand, he qualified for England through his grandmot ...

Newcastle Falcons

In March 2016, Goneva signed a contract with Newcastle Falcons. He suffered an injury at the beginning of the season which ruled him out of the 2016–17 European Rugby Challenge Cup and most of the 2016–17 English Premiership season but he did end up playing 19 games for Falcons that season scoring 9 tries. He scored his 40th try overall in the premiership after he bagged a double against

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

in their final pool match but were unable to progress to the quarter finals. Goneva played his 100th Premiership match against his old team, Leicester Tigers on 28 April 2018 scoring 2 tries and taking his premiership try tally to 53. In May 2018, Goneva won the 2017-18

player of the season. Goneva finished the season for Newcastle with 58 games and 29 tries.

Harlequins

On 3 July 2019, Harlequins announced that they had signed Goneva for the upcoming 2019-20 season.

Mont-de-Marsan

On 21 June 2020, Goneva returned to France to sign for

side

ahead of the 2020–21 season.

References

External links

Tiger's profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goneva, Vereniki 1984 births Fiji international rugby union players Fijian rugby union players Living people Sportspeople from Lautoka Rotherham Titans players Rugby union centres Rugby union wings Fijian expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in England Expatriate rugby union players in France Fijian expatriate sportspeople in England Fijian expatriate sportspeople in France Leicester Tigers players Harlequin F.C. players Newcastle Falcons players US Colomiers players Tarbes Pyrénées Rugby players Stade Montois players