Leo Lafaiali'i (born 30 January 1974 in Auckland, New Zealand) is a Samoan

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

footballer.

Career

Leo Lafaiali'i made his debut for Samoa in 2001 against Tonga, going on to play in Test matches against , , and later on in the year. After a number of appearances in 2002, he went to the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia, playing against , , , and . Lafaiali'i toured with the Pacific Islands in 2004 and helped Samoa to qualify for the World Cup in France. He featured in the 2007 Pacific Nations Cup for Samoa and was selected in the Samoa squad to go to the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup () was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by F ...

, where he played in his second global tournament. Earlier in his career he played for

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

winning national titles in 1996 and 1999. He was selected for the

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

in 1997 and was part of the championship winning side for that season. Drafted to the Chiefs in 1999 he returned to the

in 2000 & 2001 before departing to

Sanyo is a former Japanese electronics manufacturer founded in 1947 by Toshio Iue, the brother-in-law of Kōnosuke Matsushita, the founder of Matsushita Electric Industrial, now known as Panasonic. Iue left Matsushita Electric to start his own bu ...

in Japan. He has also played for Overmach Parma in Italy,

Bayonne Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the France–Spain border, Spanish border. It is a communes of France, commune and one of two subprefectures in France, subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments of France, departm ...

in France and

Yokogawa is a Japanese multinational electrical engineering and software company, with businesses based on its measurement, control, and information technologies. It has a global workforce of over 19,000 employees, 84 subsidiary and 3 affiliated comp ...

in Japan. He is, as of September 2024, the rugby head coach at

Colby College Colby College is a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine, United States. Founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, it was renamed Waterville College in 1821. The donations of Christian philanthropist Gardner ...

Waterville, Maine Waterville is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, United States, on the west bank of the Kennebec River. A college town, the city is home to Colby College, a New England Small College Athletic Conference, NESCAC college, and Thomas College. As ...

References

External links

*
Pacific Islanders Rugby Teams supporters website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lafaialii, Leo 1974 births Living people Rugby union locks Samoan rugby union coaches Samoan rugby union players Sportspeople from Tuamasaga Samoa international rugby union players Pacific Islanders rugby union players Samoan expatriate rugby union players in Japan Expatriate rugby union players in Italy Samoan expatriate rugby union players in France Samoan expatriate sportspeople in Italy 2003 Rugby World Cup players 2007 Rugby World Cup players Aviron Bayonnais players Blues (Super Rugby) players Chiefs (Super Rugby) players Auckland rugby union players