Sailosi Tagicakibau (born 14 November 1982) is a

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 it ...

footballer who has played at

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 e ...

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 ...

and

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...

in the Aviva Premiership. He spent the majority of his career with

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Premiership side

, making in excess of 150 appearances. He played international rugby for , achieving 21 caps. By contrast, his brother, Saracens player Michael, has played for Fiji.

Personal life

Tagicakibau was born in

Auckland 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 ...

, New Zealand. He has a Fijian father and

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); ...

n mother. He was a talented all-rounder in his school years excelling at

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

and

. He is the eldest of five children, his brother Michael also plays professional rugby. Prior to competing in professional rugby, he attended Papakura High School and Wesley College rugby schools in New Zealand.

Career

Club career

After college, he joined the club and came under the guidance of the great

All Black 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, ...

Kieran Crowley Kieran James Crowley (born 31 August 1961) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player, who is the head coach of Italy. He has also coached the New Zealand Under-19s in the 2007 World Championships as well as coaching provincial side T ...

. He appeared in every

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship, o ...

match during his first season, scoring six tries and was subsequently invited to join the for whom he played in eight Super 12 games. In November 2005, Tagicakibau signed with

English Premiership The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club London Irish and his debut match for the Exiles was on 28 January 2006 against

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

. After nine years at London Irish, Tagicakibau was loaned out to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

n Super Rugby side the 2014 Super Rugby season. After he left

, Sailosi signed for Premiership rivals

from the 2014-15 season. In September 2016 Wasps announced that Tagicakibau had left the club, after they had released him from his contract, at his request, for family reasons.

National team

Sailosi made his debut for the Samoa Sevens national team in 2003, making several appearances and becoming a team staple. Later that year he was selected as part of the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

squad, where he scored tries against and . He has since represented Samoa at the 2007 World Cup held in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and at the 2011 Rugby World Cup, 2011 World Cup hosted in his home country of New Zealand. In addition, he has played for Samoa in the IRB Pacific Nations Cup, Pacific Nations Cup against , and , as well as a number of friendlies. Other notable honours include his inclusion in the 2008 Pacific Islanders rugby union team, Pacific Islanders squad and the 2012 World Barbarians team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tagicakibau, Sailosi 1982 births Living people London Irish players Wasps RFC players New Zealand rugby union players People educated at Wesley College, Auckland Samoa international rugby union players Pacific Islanders rugby union players New Zealand people of I-Taukei Fijian descent New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand people of Fijian descent Expatriate rugby union players in England New Zealand expatriate rugby union players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England Stormers players Chiefs (rugby union) players Taranaki rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in South Africa New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Samoa international rugby sevens players Male rugby sevens players Rugby union players from Auckland 2003 Rugby World Cup players 2007 Rugby World Cup players 2011 Rugby World Cup players Rugby union wings