Date of birth | 4 December 1989 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Place of birth | Auckland, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 87 kg (13 st 10 lb; 192 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Occupation(s) | Personal trainer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Buxton Popoali'i (born 4 December 1989) is a former New Zealand rugby union player who played club rugby for Dunedin side Green Island, [1] provincial Mitre 10 Cup rugby for Wellington between 2008 and 2010 and for Otago between 2011 and 2013. He also made 15 appearances for the Highlanders in 2012 and 2013. He usually played as a winger or fullback.
He retired from professional rugby in 2014, aged 24, due to a heart condition. [2]
Popoali'i overcame heart valve replacement surgery at age 16 to crack the Wellington provincial squad for the 2008 Air New Zealand Cup. [3] He would spend three seasons with Wellington, but appeared in only 19 matches over that stretch, mainly off the bench.
Looking for more playing time, Popoali'i moved to Otago for the 2011 ITM Cup. [4] He quickly established himself as a starter on the wing, and scored his first provincial try in a 32–25 victory over Auckland on 20 July. He finished the season as the province's leading try-scorer with 4, and was the only Otago player to start every match over the year.
Popoali'i is also an accomplished rugby sevens player, and appeared in two sevens tournaments for New Zealand in 2010. He was again on the New Zealand sevens squad in 2011.
Popoali'i was named in the 2012 wider training squad for the Highlanders in 2011. Popoali'i made his Super Rugby debut for the Highlanders on the right wing in the 23–19 victory against the Chiefs on 25 February 2012 in Hamilton.
The Highlanders is a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Dunedin that compete in Super Rugby. The team was formed in 1996 to represent the lower South Island in the newly formed Super 12 competition, and includes the Otago, North Otago and Southland unions. The Highlanders take their name from the Scottish immigrants that founded the Otago, North Otago, and Southland regions in the 1840s and 1850s.
The Otago Rugby Football Union is the official governing body of rugby union for the Otago region of New Zealand. The union is based in the city of Dunedin, and its home ground is Forsyth Barr Stadium. The top representative team competes in the ITM Cup, New Zealand's top provincial competition. The union was to have been liquidated in March 2012. However a deal involving the Dunedin City Council allowed it to keep operating. Otago have won the Ranfurly Shield on seven occasions. They were the National provincial championship winners in 1991 and 1998. They have a proud record playing international teams, having defeated South Africa and the British and Irish Lions.
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