Nigel Faletoese Vagana (born 7 February 1975), also known by the

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

s of "Pablo", and "Chiko", is a former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s, as a and . 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 coun ...

and Samoa international representative, he retired as the Kiwis' all-time top try-scorer with 19. Vagana played club football in New Zealand for the Warriors, in England for

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

, and in Australia for the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilit ...

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby leag ...

and the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league club based in Redfern, a suburb of inner-southern Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and are one of nine existing tea ...

. Vagana represented the New Zealand national team 32 times between 1998 and 2006, including playing in the 2000 World Cup. He is also the cousin of

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...

prop-forward Joe Vagana, and former Silver Ferns netball player

Linda Vagana Linda Tuumuliga Vagana (born 23 July 1971 in Auckland, New Zealand) is an international netball coach and former representative player from New Zealand. Vagana played as a circle defender, and was a member of the New Zealand national netball tea ...

Background

Of Samoan descent, Vagana was born in

Auckland, New Zealand Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

on 7 February 1975. Vagana played for the Auckland Colts at in the grand final of the

1995 Lion Red Cup The 1995 New Zealand rugby league season was the 88th season of rugby league that had been played in New Zealand. The main feature of the year was the second season of the Lion Red Cup competition that was run by the New Zealand Rugby League. The ...

, scoring a try in his side's loss.

Playing career

1990s

Vagana was selected as part of the Samoa national team for the 1995 World Cup, but did not play a game. During the 1996 Auckland Warriors season Vagana made his first Premiership appearance for the club at centre. He also was selected in the New Zealand team that competed in the Super League World Nines tournament in Fiji. The side won the title, New Zealand's first world trophy. Vagana left New Zealand to play in 1997's

Super League II Stones Bitter Super League II was the official name for the year 1997's Super League championship season, the 103rd season of top-level professional rugby league football in Britain, and the second to be played in summer. Teams Twelve teams were ...

season for English club

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington ...

at . The following year he returned to Auckland and resumed playing at centre for the Warriors in the newly formed

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

alongside his cousin Joe Vagana. He was selected to make his début for the New Zealand national team in the

1998 Anzac Test The 1998 Anzac test was a rugby league test match played between Australia and New Zealand at the North Harbour Stadium 24 April 1998. It was the 2nd Anzac test played between the two nations since the first was played under the Super League b ...

against Australia from the internchange bench. Vagana finished the

1998 Auckland Warriors season The 1998 Auckland Warriors season was the 4th in the club's history. Coached by Frank Endacott and captained by Matthew Ridge, they competed in the 1998 NRL season, finishing the regular season 15th (out of 20 teams). Milestones *10 April – Ro ...

as the club's top try scorer. Vagana finished the

1999 Auckland Warriors season The Auckland Warriors 1999 season was the Auckland Warriors 5th first-grade season. The club competed in Australasia's National Rugby League. The coach of the team was Mark Graham while Matthew Ridge was the club's captain. Milestones *13 March ...

second only to

Stacey Jones Stacey William Jones (born 7 May 1976) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer, who has been named amongst the greatest New Zealand has ever produced. He played as a , but he has also briefly played at during his disting ...

in total tries scored for the club. He was selected for the New Zealand team to compete in the end of season

1999 Tri-Nations The 1999 Rugby League Tri-Nations series was contested by Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand in 1999. It was the first multi-national rugby league tournament to feature the sport's three world powers since the 1989–92 World Cup (the 19 ...

tournament. In the final against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

he played on the wing and scored a try in the Kiwis' 22–20 loss. He was the tournament's top try-scorer.

2000s

Vagana was selected to play for New Zealand on the wing in the

2000 Anzac Test The 2000 Anzac test was a rugby league test match played between Australia and New Zealand at the Sydney Olympic Stadium 27 April 2000. It was the 4th Anzac test played between the two nations since the first was played under the Super Leagu ...

. He finished the

2000 Auckland Warriors season The Auckland Warriors 2000 season was the Auckland Warriors 6th first-grade season. The club competed in Australasia's National Rugby League. The coach of the team was Mark Graham while John Simon was the club's captain. Milestones *20 February ...

as the club's top try-scorer. Vagana was then selected in the New Zealand squad for the 2000 World Cup. The Kiwis reached the final against

, and he played on the wing in the loss to the Kangaroos. Vagana commenced playing for Sydney's

Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown is a customary region of Sydney, Australia, in the south-western suburbs. The area is located around the Bankstown railway line, to the west of the St George region and to the south of the Inner West region. The suburbs ...

for the

2001 NRL season The 2001 NRL season was the 94th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fourth run by the National Rugby League. Also called the 2001 Telstra Premiership (due to sponsorship from Telstra Corporation) it was contested ...

. At the 2001 Dally M Awards Vagana was named the NRL's centre of the year. In April 2002, Vagana became the first Canterbury player since 1942 to score five tries in a match. That season he was the League's top try-scorer. At the 2002 Dally M Awards Vagana was named the NRL's centre of the year. He was selected to go on the 2002 New Zealand rugby league tour of Great Britain and France, playing at centre.

Clinton Toopi Clinton James Te-Whata Toopi (born 29 February 1980) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. A New Zealand international representative , he played his club football in the ...

broke his hand in a scuffle with Vagana during a team drinking session after the second test. Team management initially tried to cover up the incident, claiming the injury occurred during the match, before media found out and had a field day. Vagana played in all five test matches of the tour. During the

2002 NRL season The 2002 NRL season was the 95th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fifth to be run by the National Rugby League. The season was affected by the competition-leading Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs' salary cap breach fi ...

the ladder-leading Canterbury were stripped all competition points and given record-breaking fines for

salary cap In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Sever ...

breaches, meaning they finished the season with the wooden spoon. Vagana moved to another Sydney club, the

for the

2004 NRL season The 2004 NRL season (also known as the 2004 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra) was the 97th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the seventh run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen clubs competed dur ...

. He was selected to play for New Zealand at fullback in the 2004 Anzac Test. Vagana finished the 2004 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks season at the club's top try-scorer. In the post-season

2004 Tri-Nations The second Rugby League Tri-Nations tournament (known as the Gillette Tri-Nations due to sponsorship) was contested between 16 October and 27 November of 2004. The format of the competition differed from the previous event in that the teams played ...

tournament Vagana was selected to play in the centres for

in all four of their matches. Vagana was selected play for New Zealand at centre in the 2005 Anzac Test. At the end of the season he was selected to go to Britain with the Kiwis for the 2005 Tri-Nations tournament, playing at in all matches, including the final in which they defeated Australia. NIGEL VAGANA

Vagana was selected to play for New Zealand at in the 2006 Anzac Test. He was selected to represent New Zealand in the 2006 Tri-Nations tournament, playing at in the final which was lost to Australia. Vagana announced his retirement from international rugby league following the 2006 Tri Nations series. Vagana signed a two-year contract with NRL club South Sydney, starting in 2007, expiring at the end of 2008. At the end of the

2007 NRL season The 2007 NRL season was the one hundredth season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the tenth run by the National Rugby League. Sixteen teams contested the NRL's 2007 Telstra Premiership, and with the inclusio ...

the

2007 All Golds tour The 2007 All Golds Tour was a tour by the New Zealand national rugby league team, the Kiwis, of Great Britain and France. Conducted as part of the celebrations of a century of rugby league in New Zealand, it was a re-creation of the original New Ze ...

took place, celebrating the centenary of the 1907–08 New Zealand rugby tour of Australia and Great Britain, which saw the first games of rugby league ever played in the Southern hemisphere. Vagana came out of international retirement to play for an invitational "All Golds" side against Great Britain. The 2008 season was Vagana's last in the NRL. Although already retired, Vagana was named in the

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 and Apolima); ...

squad for the post-season 2008 World Cup, and captained the side in the tournament, scoring tries in both their matches.

Honours

*2001 -

Dally M The Dally M Awards are the official annual player awards for the National Rugby League competition. As well as honouring the player of the year, who received the Dally M Medal, awards are also given to the premier player in each position, the be ...

Centre of the Year *2002 -

Centre of the Year

Post playing

Following his retirement from the playing field, Vagana became a

education and welfare officer.

References

External links

International player profileCanterbury Bulldogs profileNigel Vagana Souths Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vagana, Nigel 1975 births Living people Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Junior Kiwis players New Zealand national rugby league team captains New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand people of Samoan descent New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand Warriors players People educated at St Paul's College, Auckland Richmond Bulldogs players Rugby league centres Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league wingers Samoa national rugby league team captains Samoa national rugby league team players South Sydney Rabbitohs players Warrington Wolves players