So'otala Fa'aso'o (born 2 October 1994) 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 who plays as a number eight for

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

Italian team Benetton. Born in New Zealand, he represents

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

at international level after qualifying on ancestry grounds.

Early life

So'otala was born in

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 ...

and grew up in the

Papatoetoe Papatoetoe is a suburb in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the largest suburb in Auckland by population and is located to the northwest of Manukau, Manukau Central, and southeast of Auckland CBD. Papatoetoe was traditionally an important area fo ...

district of the city. He attended the prestigious St. Kentigern College on a rugby scholarship program which captured the attention of 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 ...

Rugby Team in their Under-18 structure. He played for his school in the Auckland 1A School League of which his team reached the grand final ultimately beating Kelston BHS 38-17 to win. Around this time, he had received offers from both the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

and

NZ Warriors The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...

as well as some league teams based in Australia. His talent was quickly noticed and was selected to play for the New Zealand Secondary School team who would play against both Australia and Samoa. He retained his enrolment for Auckland Rugby's Academy which he accepted in 2013.

Club career

Fa'aso'o has had something of a nomadic career which started in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

with his local province, Auckland. He made 2 appearances for them before shifting south the following season to join Manawatu. He didn't manage to make the field for them so was forced to drop down to New Zealand's

Heartland Championship The Heartland Championship is an annual Round-robin tournament, round-robin rugby union competition in men's domestic Rugby union in New Zealand, New Zealand rugby. First played in 2006, it is the third highest level of List of rugby union comp ...

with Wairarapa Bush in 2015. Solid performances there saw him earn another shot at

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) or miter (American English; see spelling differences; both pronounced ; ) is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in traditional Christianity. Mi ...

rugby with the

Pukekohe Pukekohe is a town in the Auckland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. The town is located at the southern edge of the Auckland Region, between the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and the mouth of the Waikato River. The hills of Puke ...

-based Counties Manukau in 2016 where he played all 11 games as the Steelers reached the Premiership Semi-Finals before going down to eventual winners . His appearances in New Zealand brought him to the attention of French-side Racing 92 who announced in November 2016 that they had signed Fa'aso'o on a contract until the end of the

2016–17 Top 14 season The 2016–17 Top 14 competition was the 118th French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Two new teams from the 2015–16 Pro D2 season were promoted to Top 14 this year, Bayonne and Lyon in plac ...

. On 4 July 2022, Fa'aso'o would move to England to join

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club that most recently competed in the Premiership Rugby, Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England. The club also participated in the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Champion ...

in the

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby ...

from the 2022-23 season. From 2023 to summer 2025 he played for

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 ...

club

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...

. On 5 May 2025, Fa'aso'o would join Italy region Benetton in the URC competition on a two-year deal from the 2025-26 season.

International career

Fa'aso'o was a member of the Samoa Under 20 side which competed in the

2014 IRB Junior World Championship The 2014 IRB Junior World Championship was the seventh annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in Auckland, New Zealand by rugby's governing body, World Rugby, then known as the Internatio ...

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 ...

, making 3 appearances and scoring 1 try.

Personal life

He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

whilst also double majoring in History and Pacific Studies. He also goes by the nickname of ''Sooty'' or ''So'o''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fa'aso'o So'otala 1994 births Living people New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union players from Auckland Rugby union number eights Auckland rugby union players Counties Manukau rugby union players Wairarapa Bush rugby union players Racing 92 players CA Brive players London Irish players New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent 2023 Rugby World Cup players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in France New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in England People educated at Saint Kentigern College Samoa international rugby union players