| Full name | Codemeru Nanai Vai | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 25 February 2004 [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) [2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 86 kg (190 lb; 13 st 8 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | De La Salle College, Auckland St Peter's College, Cambridge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notable relative(s) | Melani Nanai (brother) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Codemeru ”Cody” Nanai Vai (born 25 February 2004) is a New Zealand professional rugby union player who plays as a wing for National Provincial Championship club Bay of Plenty and the New Zealand national sevens team.
His father Kitiona Nanai Vai was a Western Samoa international who played in their 1991 Rugby Union World Cup team. He is the younger brother of rugby players Melani Nanai and Kitiona Vai. His sister Corina Nanai-Vai is also a rugby player and played in the Farah Palmer Cup for the Auckland Storm. He attended De La Salle College, Auckland. He also attended St Peter's School, Cambridge on a scholarship. [3] [4]
He plays for Bay of Plenty as a winger and also played for the Chiefs U20 side. [5]
Vai joined the New Zealand national rugby sevens team as injury cover in 2023 and scored a try on debut. [6] He played as they won the Hong Kong Sevens title in 2023, scoring a try after just 25 seconds in the final against Fiji. [7] [8]
He was a member of the New Zealand Sevens team that retained the Hong Kong title in 2024, scoring a try in the final as they beat France 10-7. [9] He continued to play for New Zealand in the 2024-25 SVNS series. [10]