Salesi Ma'afu, (born 26 March 1983 in Camperdown, Sydney,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

) is an Australian professional

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.

Early life

Ma'afu was educated at Granville and Ashfield Boys High Schools in Sydney and played rugby league as a youngster in the Balmain district before starting up with rugby, aged 11. Ma'afu first made his mark at representative level in the NSW Under-19 side in 2001 and 2002, later featuring in the Waratahs Academy through 2004 and 2005.

Club career

He signed with the

ACT Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005–2022 as simply the Brumbies) is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the feral horses which inh ...

in 2005 and made his Super Rugby debut in 2007. Ma'afu made the Australia A squad the same year, ending his year with a late-season appearance for the British Barbarians club during its 22-5 win over the new Rugby World Cup holders, South Africa. In the NSW club competition, after spending two years with

Warringah Warringah is a name taken from the local Aboriginal word for Middle Harbour, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It may refer to: *Division of Warringah, an electoral division of the Australian House of Representatives created in 1922 *Electoral ...

, in 2009 Ma'afu returned to West Harbour, where he played alongside his brother Campese. In 2011, Ma'afu signed to join the Perth-based

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. F ...

, to commence

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

. He also is the club ambassador for local club, Joondalup Brothers RUFC, for whom himself and his children played. Before the commencement of the

2013 Super Rugby season The 2013 Super Rugby season was the third season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The tournament was won by the Chiefs, who defeated the Canberra-based Brum ...

Ma'afu signed with the English Premiership side Northampton Saints ahead of the 2013/2014 season. Ma'afu became a regular in the side, helping them to victory in both the Premiership and the European Challenge Cup. On 13 June 2015, Maafu would join top French club

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

in the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

on a two-year contract. After being released from his contract by the club, Ma’afu spent a season at Cardiff Rugby. Ma'afu returned to Aviva Premiership to sign for English club

Gloucester Rugby Gloucester Rugby are a professional rugby union club based in the West Country city of Gloucester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby, as well as in the European Rugby Champions Cup. The club was formed in ...

On 23 May 2017, Maafu returns to France as he signed for

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 ...

side

RC Narbonne R&C, RC, R/C, Rc, or rc may refer to: Science and technology Computing * rc, the default Command line interface in Version 10 Unix and Plan 9 from Bell Labs * .rc (for "run commands"), a filename extension for configuration files in UNIX-like ...

ahead of the 2017-18 season.

International career

Ma'afu's first test cap was in 2010 against Fiji, where he had the unusual challenge of marking his brother, who was also playing on debut. The pair became just the fourth set of brothers to oppose each other in Tests, and the first to achieve this feat when both were on debut. Subsequent tests in 2010 against England, Ireland, and South Africa completed a strong year for the prop. In 2011 Ma'afu was selected in the Wallabies squad for the

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

, in New Zealand.

References

External links

*
Western Force Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ma'afu, Salesi 1983 births Living people Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Australian people of I-Taukei Fijian descent ACT Brumbies players Western Force players Northampton Saints players RC Toulonnais players Rugby union props Rugby union players from Sydney Australian expatriate rugby union players Australian sportspeople of Tongan descent Expatriate rugby union players in England Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Fijian people of Tongan descent I-Taukei Fijian people People educated at Ashfield Boys' High School Australian expatriate sportspeople in Wales Australian expatriate sportspeople in France