Victor Vasefanua Junior Vito (born 27 March 1987) is a New Zealand former rugby player and All Black who last played blindside flanker for French team

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With ...

. He was a star of

New Zealand Sevens The New Zealand national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. They have won a record twelve World Rugby Sevens Series titles. The team has been o ...

, and captained the 2006 New Zealand Under 19 Rugby team. Also in 2006 Vito was nominated for the IRB Under 19 Player of the Year Award. He is a key member of

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Rugby World Cup winning teams, becoming one of only 21 players who have won the Rugby World Cup on multiple occasions. Vito attended 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 ...

private school, Scots College, where he played for the 1st XV and was a boarder. While playing rugby in New Zealand, Vito was a member of amateur rugby

Marist St Pats Marist St Pats (MSP) are a rugby union club who play in Wellington Rugby Football Union's premier club rugby grade The Jubilee Cup. History Since its formation in 1971, Marist St Pats has won Wellington club rugby's most coveted prize, the Jubil ...

in Wellington, and was a prominent player in the 2009

Wellington Lions The Wellington Rugby Football Union (known as the Wellington Lions for competition reasons) are a New Zealand governing body of rugby union in the New Zealand province of Wellington Region. The main stadium is Sky Stadium (formerly named West ...

. In 2010 he started for the Hurricanes Super 14 team and was named in the All Blacks extended squad for the first tests of the year. During an interview with the ZM FM Morning Crew, Vito described his new position in 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 ...

as "a really really awesome promotion." Vito was a colour commentator for

Sky Network Television Sky Network Television Limited, more commonly known as Sky, is a New Zealand broadcasting company that provides pay television services via satellite television, satellite, media streaming services and broadband internet services. It is also a ...

at the 2010 Wellington Sevens. During the tournament he revealed he was a fan of NFL side

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

and regarded

Ronde Barber Jamael Orondé "Rondé" Barber (born April 7, 1975) is an American former football cornerback who spent his entire 16-year professional career playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He is the identical twin ...

as a personal idol of his. In 2010, he was bestowed the

matai title Matai may refer to: Geography * Matai (Maucatar), a city and suco in East Timor * Matai, Egypt, a city in the governorate of Al Minya in Egypt * Matai, Tanzania, a town and administrative seat of Kalambo District, Tanzania * Matai, New Zealan ...

of Leaupepetele in the village of Fasito'outa. Vito was in the All Blacks camp, preparing for his test debut off the bench against Ireland, when his mother Luma'ava Leaupepe-Timoteo returned to their village in

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 ...

to accept the passing of the title. It is one of Samoa's highest honours, and was bestowed by Leaupepe Tele to the eldest sons of his respective children: Vito and three of his cousins. "My grandfather holds the highest title in Fasito'o Uta and he's getting on now and he needed to pass it on to keep the name in the family," Vito explained. Vito, despite inexperience compared to other players was selected for the 2011 Rugby World Cup over

Liam Messam Liam Justin Messam (born 25 March 1984) is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays TOP14 for RC Toulonnais. In Super Rugby, he previously played for the , and for Waikato in the ITM Cup. Messam predominantly plays as a blindside flanker b ...

, and was again selected for the 2015 Rugby World Cup where he played as a substitute for the knockout stages, becoming one of only 20 players to have been part of multiple World Cup-winning sides. His last appearance for the All Blacks was the game against Australia at Twickenham on 31 October 2015, where the All Blacks won the Webb Ellis Cup for the third time and second consecutive time. Vito announced his move to La Rochelle in France after the final, meaning his 2016 Super Rugby campaign would be his last. In the final of the 2016

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 ...

final Vito played in his 100th and final game for the

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

. The Hurricanes won the title, beating the Lions from South Africa. Vito currently plays for Top 14 Rugby Team

Stade Rochelais Stade Rochelais (), commonly called La Rochelle, is a French rugby union club who compete in the Top 14. They were founded in 1898 and play at Stade Marcel-Deflandre (capacity 16,000). They wear yellow and black. They are based in La Rochelle ...

where he won the French Top 14 Player of the Year award in 2017. He was also a nominee for EPCR European Player of The Year in 2018, helping his team to their first Champions cup season and Quarter-Final playoff.

Teams

* La Rochelle (2016–present) * New Zealand All Blacks (2010–2015) * Wellington Hurricanes (2009–2016) * Wellington Lions (2006–2016) * New Zealand National Sevens Team (2007, 2008) * New Zealand U21 Team (2007) * New Zealand U19 Team (2006) * New Zealand Secondary Schools (2004)

References

External links

All Blacks profile

Hurricanes profile

Wellington profile

Statistics from Fox Sports
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vito, Victor 1987 births Living people Wellington rugby union players Hurricanes (rugby union) players New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights New Zealand international rugby union players People educated at Scots College, Wellington Rugby union players from Wellington City New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand international rugby sevens players New Zealand male rugby sevens players Stade Rochelais players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in France New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in France Victoria University of Wellington alumni