Lolagi Visinia (born 17 January 1993) 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 its m ...

player, who currently plays as a

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 expres ...

or fullback for in

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 ...

and in New Zealand's domestic

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 ...

competition. He was born and raised in

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 count ...

, but has represented both

(in sevens) and

Manu Samoa The Samoa national rugby union team (also known as Manu Samoa) represents Samoa in men's international rugby union and it is governed by the Samoa Rugby Union. They are also known as Manu Samoa, which is thought to derive from the name of a Samo ...

internationally.

Early career

Visinia attended

Kelston Boys' High School Kelston Boys' High School ("KBHS") (Te kura tuarua o nga tamatane o kerehana) is an all-boys state secondary school in Kelston, a suburb in the Waitakere region of Auckland, New Zealand. It was created in 1963 when the roll of Kelston High Scho ...

, where he turned out for the school's first XV. Although Kelston Boys 1st XV didn't win the Auckland competition in 2011, Visinia helped his team win their first National Top 4 title in 12 years. He scored a try in the 24 – 14 win over Wesley College in the Final. Later that year, Visinia also played for the Kelston Boys' sevens team that won the Condor Sevens, an annual Secondary School Sevens tournament in New Zealand. During his time at Kelston Boys', Visinia represented

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

and the at age grade level, both in the 15-a-side game and in sevens.

Senior career

On 14 August 2012, at the age of 19, Visinia was named in the ITM Cup squad, for the first time. He made his provincial debut – off the bench – on 2 September 2012 against and his starting debut on 7 October 2012 against . He scored his first try for Auckland on 27 October 2012 against in the

2011 ITM Cup The 2011 ITM Cup season was the sixth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on July 14, when Otago hosted North Harbour. It involved the top fourteen rugby uni ...

Premiership Final that Auckland lost 18 – 31. While not named in the Blues squad for 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 Brumb ...

, Visinia – as a member of the Blues wider training group – made his Super Rugby debut on 13 July 2013 against the . It was his only Super Rugby game that season, but he was named in the Blues squad for

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

. He scored his first try for the Blues on 25 April 2014 against the . Visinia spent four seasons at the Blues, before signing with French club

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

in November 2016. At the end of the 2017–18 Rugby Pro D2 season, his first with the club, Grenoble secured promotion to 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 ...

after winning a promotion/relegation match 47–22 against

Oyonnax Oyonnax () is the second most populated commune in the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. Oyonnax lies in a valley of the Jura Mountains in the far north of Ain. It is near the Parc naturel régional du Haut- ...

. Visinia scored two tries in that game. However, after the 2018–19 Top 14 season, Grenoble was relegated back to the

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 ...

after losing a promotion/relegation match 22 -28 against Brive. It turned out to be Visinia's last season with the club. On 3 June 2019, Japanese club

NEC Green Rockets NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu (formerly NEC Green Rockets) is a Japanese rugby union team in the Japan Rugby League One. The team's captain iRyota Asano The previous captain was Takuro Miuchi, who was also the captain of the Japan national rugby unio ...

announced the signing of Visinia. He made his debut for the club on 22 June 2019 against

Mazda Blue Zoomers Skyactivs Hiroshima (formerly Mazda Blue Zoomers) are a Japanese rugby union team who compete in the Japan Rugby League One. They were formerly owned by car manufacturers Mazda based in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan. The team rebranded as Skyactivs Hi ...

, scoring 2 tries on debut. He played a total of 10 games (scoring 5 tries) for the Green Rockets; five games for the 2019 Top League Cup and five

Top League Japan Rugby League One (formerly the Top League) is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the ...

games. The 2020 Top League season was cancelled after round 6 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and Visinia returned to

. In July 2020, it was announced that Visinia would join for the

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in t ...

. He made his debut for the Magpies – off the bench – against on 13 September 2020. A week later he was named in the starting line-up against and scored his first try for the Magpies in that game. He went on to play 11 games – in which he scored 5 tries – in his first season for Hawke's Bay, helping the Magpies win the

2020 Mitre 10 Cup The 2020 Mitre 10 Cup season was the fifteenth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on September 11, when North Harbour hosted Canterbury. It involved the top ...

Championship title and the

Ranfurly Shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challeng ...

. At the end of the season, he was named the Magpies' Rookie of the Year. On 2 December 2020, Visinia was named in the squad for the 2021 Super Rugby season. He made his debut for the franchise on 21 May 2021 against the , in what turned out to be the only game he played for the Hurricanes. On 26 October 2021,

Moana Pasifika Moana Pasifika is a rugby union team made up of players from various Pacific island nations as well as New Zealand or Australian born players of Pasifika heritage, including Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands. The team was originally crea ...

announced that it had signed Visinia for the

2022 Super Rugby Pacific season The 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season (known as Harvey Norman Super Rugby Pacific in Australia and DHL Super Rugby Pacific in New Zealand) is the 27th season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams fr ...

. On 29 March 2022, he made his debut for the new franchise – via the bench – in their home game against the . His first start for Moana Pasifika followed on 12 April 2022 against the .

International career

After a successful 1st XV season with Kelston Boys' High School, Visinia was named in the 2011 New Zealand Secondary Schools team that played matches against Australian Schools and Australian Schools 'A'. Fresh out of school, at the age of 19, he was part of the 2012

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 ...

squad. He played in the

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

rounds of the 2011–12 IRB Sevens World Series. A year later, Visinia was named in the New Zealand Under-20 squad for the

2013 IRB Junior World Championship The 2013 IRB Junior World Championship was the sixth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in France by rugby's governing body, the IRB. A total of twelve nations played in the tournament ...

. He played in 4 games and scored 4 tries during the tournament. As a result of a change in international eligibility rules – adopted by World Rugby on 24 November 2021 – which allows captured players to change to a new country ''once,'' provided they or their (grand)parents were born in the new country, Visinia – who is of Samoan descent – was able to play for

despite having represented

in sevens. On 2 June 2022, he was named in the Manu Samoa squad for the first time. He made his international debut for Samoa on 2 July 2022 against Australia A in their first game of the 2022 Pacific Nations Cup, which they won 31–26.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Visinia, Lolagi 1993 births Living people New Zealand people of I-Taukei Fijian descent New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent People educated at Kelston Boys' High School New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand male rugby sevens players New Zealand international rugby sevens players Samoan rugby union players Samoa international rugby union players Rugby union players from Auckland Rugby union wings Rugby union fullbacks Auckland rugby union players Blues (Super Rugby) players FC Grenoble Rugby players Hawke's Bay rugby union players Green Rockets Tokatsu players Hurricanes (rugby union) players Moana Pasifika players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in France New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in Japan

Early career

Senior career

International career

See also

References

External links