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Ma'a Allan Nonu (; born 21 May 1982) is a professional
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 ...
player from New Zealand who currently plays for
Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...
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 National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...
. He plays as an inside centre, but can also cover outside
centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...
and
wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...
. He was a key member of the All Blacks'
2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
and
2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
Rugby World Cup winning teams, becoming one of only 44 players who have won the Rugby World Cup on multiple occasions. He is regarded as one of the greatest centres to ever play the game of rugby union.


Career


Early career

Nonu attended
Strathmore Park Strathmore Park is a suburb of Wellington City, New Zealand. It is located at the southern end of the Miramar Peninsula to the south of the suburb of Miramar, and due east of the airport. A hill suburb, it overlooks Lyall Bay (which lies to ...
Primary School in Wellington, then attended
Rongotai College Rongotai College is a state single-sex boys' secondary school in the southeastern suburb of Rongotai, Wellington, New Zealand. Serving Years 9 to 13 (ages 12 to 18), the school has students as of . About 55 percent of the students are of Eu ...
in
Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
. At club level, he represented Oriental Rongotai in the
Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
competition. He played for the Wellington Secondary Schools team in 1999–2000, and the Wellington Under 19s team in 2001. He also played
rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
as a youngster.


Professional career and the All Blacks

He made his provincial debut for Wellington in the 2002 NPC and debuted for the Hurricanes in the 2003 Super 12. He played for the New Zealand Sevens in 2004. On the back of some outstanding Super 12 form, Nonu made his Test debut for the All Blacks on 14 June 2003, starting at centre in a 15-13 loss to
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. Nonu missed selection for the 2003 Tri Nations, with the selectors preferring Umaga, Aaron Mauger and Daniel Carter in the midfield. He was selected for the All Blacks' 2003 World Cup squad and played in pool matches against
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
,
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
and
Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...
. He scored his first Test try against Canada and was generally impressive on attack and easily breaking the line and his big stature was intimidating to the opposition. However, question marks over his defensive game and inexperience meant he was not selected for the knockout stage of the tournament despite an injury to Umaga. Nonu missed selection for the Tri Nations in 2004 after a form slump in the Super 12. He forced his way back into contention playing for Wellington in the 2004 NPC, and played as a substitute in all four matches on the All Blacks' undefeated end of year tour to Europe. Nonu played on the wing for much of the 2005 Super 12, with Conrad Smith preferred as Umaga's midfield partner. Standout performances included a hat trick against 2004 Super 12 champions the
Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005 to 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 ...
. Nonu played at second five-eighth for the Possibles in the 2005 All Blacks trial, scoring two tries and setting up two more to inspire the Possibles to an upset win over the Probables. He played in the second Test against the 2005
British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...
as a substitute, replacing Sitiveni Sivivatu on the wing. He again missed selection for the 2005 Tri Nations. Wellington Lions captain Umaga was rested during the 2005 NPC, and in his absence Nonu was promoted to the captaincy of the team. During the NPC, he established himself as one of New Zealand's most dangerous midfield runners. He was selected for the 2005 All Blacks Grand Slam tour, playing Tests as a substitute against
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
and
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
, and earning his third Test start against
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. He was cited for an alleged
spear tackle A spear tackle is an illegal tackle in rugby union, rugby league and Australian rules football in which a player lifts another player into the air and drops them so that they land on their back, head or neck. Spear tackles have caused serious inj ...
against
Brian O'Driscoll Brian Gerard O'Driscoll (born 21 January 1979) is an Irish former professional rugby union player. He played at outside Centre (rugby union), centre for the Irish provincial team Leinster Rugby, Leinster and for Ireland national rugby union te ...
during the Test against Ireland, but was later cleared of the charge. In 2006 Nonu was ruled out of the Tri Nations squad due to injury,
Mils Muliaina Junior Malili "Mils" Muliaina (born 31 July 1980) is a former professional rugby union player who most recently played for San Francisco Rush in the US PRO Rugby competition. He played primarily as a fullback, though he has also played as a ...
being chosen to take his place. He damaged the base of his left thumb playing club rugby in Wellington, which required him to have surgery. He was, however, included in the end of year tour with the All Blacks. Due to his absence from the All Blacks Tri Nations squad, Nonu was able to play every game with the
Wellington Lions The Wellington Rugby Football Union (known as the Wellington Lions for competition reasons) are a New Zealand governing body of rugby union in the New Zealand province of Wellington Region. The main stadium is Sky Stadium (formerly named Wes ...
in the
Air New Zealand Cup An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...
, which greatly helped them. Nonu missed out on selection for the 2007 Rugby World Cup, with the selectors preferring Aaron Mauger,
Luke McAlister Charles Luke McAlister (born 28 August 1983 in Waitara, New Zealand, Waitara) is a retired New Zealand rugby union footballer. He played at Fly-half (rugby union), fly-half and at Centre (rugby union), centre. He is the brother of New Zealand w ...
, Conrad Smith and Isaia Toeava in the centres. The game against
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
on 28 September 2013 marked a record fiftieth international game in combination with Conrad Smith.


Rugby league

In December 2006, Nonu expressed a desire to switch codes to
rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
and play in the
National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
(NRL) after 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 ...
. A move overseas was seen as more likely as he was not named in Graham Henry's 2007 squad but was instead dropped to the Junior All Blacks. In 2008, Nonu returned to the All Blacks, starting in the majority of tests throughout the year, and regarded to be the All Blacks first choice inside centre.


2011 Tri-Nations & Rugby World Cup

Nonu played his first international of 2011 in a friendly against
Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
. He played in New Zealand's first Tri-Nations game against
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
. The
All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...
ended up winning 40-7. He then went on to play New Zealand's next game in the Tri-Nations against Australia where he scored the opening try. He played the final game of the tournament against Australia and scored his 21st international try. Nonu was selected for the All Blacks
2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...
. He scored the final try in the All Blacks' opening match against
Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...
. On 23 October 2011, he played in the
final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...
against France, which the All Blacks won by 8-7 to become world champions.


Ricoh Black Rams

Following the 2011 Rugby World Cup, Nonu joined the Black Rams Tokyo, in Japan, on a short-term 'sabbatical'. In 12 games for the Rams, he scored six tries and received one yellow card.


Blues

On 1 July 2011, Nonu announced he had signed a two year contract with 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 ...
. This was after the
Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...
announced he would not be resigned following the
2011 Super Rugby season The 2011 Super Rugby season was the first season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition, which involved teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Including its past iterations as Super 12 and Super 14, this was the 16t ...
. Nonu made his debut for the Blues in round three of the
2012 Super Rugby season The 2012 Super Rugby season was the second season of the 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 has previously included tea ...
. 2012 was a below average season for Nonu in terms of form and his struggle to return to the number 12 jersey for the All Blacks. Nonu's performances following his return from his Black Rams sabbatical were met with poor response and led to his exclusion from the match day 22 for the France test series. Nonu's place was filled by
Sonny Bill Williams Sonny William Williams (born 3 August 1985) is a New Zealand heavyweight boxer, and a former professional rugby league and rugby union player. He is only the second person to represent New Zealand in rugby union after first playing for the cou ...
, whose form and consistency kept Nonu out of the 12 jersey until Week 3 of the
2012 Rugby Championship The 2012 Rugby Championship was the inaugural annual rugby union series between the national rugby union teams of New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and Argentina. For sponsorship reasons, the competition was known as ''The Castle Rugby Champ ...
. Due to injury to former Hurricanes teammate Conrad Smith, Nonu returned to the All Blacks starting lineup in the first week of the inaugural Rugby Championship at 13, centre, with Sonny Bill at 12, forming what was considered the most 'destructive' centre pairing in rugby at the time. Nonu returned to the All Blacks number 12 jersey. Following Williams' departure to Japan and then the NRL, Nonu played all but one of the remaining tests at second five-eighth, except against Scotland where he came off the bench.


Super Rugby movements

After one season in Auckland, Nonu moved to Dunedin, signing a one year deal with the Highlanders 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 Brumbi ...
. After struggling to find a
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 has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...
team for 2014, (where all 5
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
franchises initially stated they weren't interested in signing him), Nonu eventually turned down a lucrative offer to play for French
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 National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...
side Clermont, to return to 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 ...
for another
season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...
. In doing so, he made himself available to continue playing for the
All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...
throughout 2014 and ultimately gain selection for the
Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...
the following year in
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. Nonu returned to the Hurricanes for the 2015 Super Rugby season, the team he left in 2011. It was speculated that the departure of former Hurricanes coach
Mark Hammett Mark Garry 'Hammer' Hammett (born 13 July 1972) is a New Zealand rugby union coach (sport), coach and former player. Having represented Canterbury Rugby Football Union, Canterbury provincially 76 times, and the Crusaders (rugby union), Crusaders ...
to the
Cardiff Blues Cardiff Rugby () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms Park. Originally formed in 1876, from 2003 to 2021 the first team was known as the Cardiff Blues before rebranding back ...
paved the way for his return.


Toulon

On 20 December 2014, it was announced Nonu would be joining
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 National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...
side
Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...
after the
2015 Rugby World Cup The IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was ...
on a two year deal.


2015 World Cup

Nonu was selected as the starting inside centre for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, he played in nearly every pool game. Nonu played every knockout match and scored a 50m solo try to help the All Blacks beat Australia 34-17 in the final. In the 2016 New Year Honours, Nonu was appointed a
Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ...
for services to rugby.


Second Blues return

Nonu signed with the Blues for the 2019 Super Rugby season.


San Diego Legion

Major League Rugby announced in October 2019 that Nonu would play for the San Diego Legion in the 2020 season. Nonu was named captain of the San Diego Legion for the 2022 season. He played his last game for the club in July 2024 during the conference league semi-final, a loss to
Seattle Seawolves The Seattle Seawolves are an American professional rugby union team based in the Seattle metropolitan area that competes in Major League Rugby (MLR). The team was founded in 2017. The Seawolves won two MLR championships in 2018 and 2019, and los ...
.


Return to Toulon

Although having never officially retired, Nonu was thought to have played his last professional game the previous season. However, in February 2025, at the age of 42, he re-signed with his former club Toulon in the Top14 as a medical joker until the end of the season. In March 2025, he replaced Gabin Villière off the bench during a league fixture against
Castres Castres (; ''Castras'' in the Languedocian dialect, Languedocian dialect of Occitan language, Occitan) is the sole Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Tarn (department), Tarn Departments of France, department in the Occitania (adminis ...
. Despite losing the game 28–26 he overtook the previous record holder, Karena Wihongi for the oldest player ever to play in the Top14.


Playing style

Nonu is well known for his explosiveness and powerful attacking runs and regularly breaks the defensive line at will. 2011 World Cup winning All Blacks coach Graham Henry has described him as "probably the best linebreaker in this game in this country." Nonu has been noted to possess a similar attacking skillset to former All Black centre
Tana Umaga Jonathan Ionatana Falefasa Umaga (; ; born 27 May 1973) is a New Zealand former rugby union footballer and former captain of the national team, the All Blacks. He is head coach of Moana Pasifika in the Super Rugby competition. He was granted ...
. Like Umaga, he is an exceptional
crash ball The crash ball is an attacking tactic in rugby league and rugby union where a player receives a pass at pace and runs to the opposition's defensive line. The crash ball runner attempts to commit two or more opposing players to the tackle, then att ...
runner who excels at breaking the line and creating space for outside backs. In 2005, Henry described Nonu as "young Tana," underlining the impression that he was being talked up as a potential successor to Umaga. This comparison has been confirmed in recent times by Wayne Smith.


Personal life

Nonu became a
vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...
while playing in France for Toulon, citing his son Michael as his motivation: "Michael, my second one, he's seven years old. When he was growing up, I was trying to feed him meat – chicken – and he never liked it. I thought 'let's try something new'. I said 'I'm not going to eat meat because I feel sorry for him enough, he'll (feel) stink. If we're going out and I'm ordering a
T-bone steak The T-bone and porterhouse are steaks of beef cut from the short loin (called the sirloin in Commonwealth countries and Ireland). Both steaks include a T-shaped lumbar vertebra with sections of abdominal internal oblique muscle on each s ...
and he's eating his carrots and cucumber … so I said look for the love of my son I won't eat meat because I'll try to be the same as him". According to Nonu, part of the reason why he had remained in good condition and fitness despite his advancing years was because he was very careful about what he ate, crediting his new diet with his resurgence playing Super Rugby for the Blues at 37 years old. "It's helped me physically and I enjoy it, you know."


Honours

*: ** Member of the
New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of New Zealand, Queen of New Zealand, "for th ...
(MNZM) (2019)


References


External links

* * * *
Statistics from Fox Sports
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nonu, Ma'a New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand international rugby union players Rugby union centres Rugby union wings 1982 births Living people New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent People educated at Rongotai College New Zealand Latter Day Saints Blues (Super Rugby) players Hurricanes (rugby union) players Wellington rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players RC Toulon players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in Japan New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in France Black Rams Tokyo players Rugby union players from Wellington City Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit San Diego Legion players East Coast rugby union players 2003 Rugby World Cup players 2011 Rugby World Cup players 2015 Rugby World Cup players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in the United States 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen