| Kerevi with Tokyo Sungoliath in 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Samuela Vatuniveivuke Kerevi 27 September 1993 Viseisei, Ba Province, Fiji | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Height | 186 cm (6 ft 1 in) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 106 kg (234 lb; 16 st 10 lb) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Brisbane State High School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notable relatives |
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| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Samuela Vatuniveivuke Kerevi (born 27 September 1993) is an Australian rugby union player currently playing for Urayasu D-Rocks in the Japan Rugby League One (JRLO). [4] His usual position is centre. He previously played for the Queensland Reds in Super Rugby and has played for the Australian national team. [5]
Samuela Kerevi was born in Viseisei, Fiji. [6] He moved with his family to Australia at aged 4. [7] His father, Nimilote Kerevi, is a former Fiji international soccer player. His brother Josua Kerevi has also played representative rugby. [7]
Kerevi attended Brisbane State High School, and represented Queensland at the Australian Schools Rugby Championships in 2011. [8]
Kerevi obtained Australian citizenship in August 2016. [9]
In 2012, Samu Kerevi (his ref name was Musashi) played Premier Rugby for GPS Old Boys in Brisbane. [10] He was selected alongside his brother Josua in the Fiji Under-20 team for the 2012 IRB Junior World Championship in South Africa. [11] In the opening pool match against Wales, he scored the first try of the tournament and he followed that up with a double against Samoa. [12]
Kerevi was a member of the ARU's National Academy in 2012 and 2013. [13] [14] He was selected for Australia Under-20 to play in the 2013 IRB Junior World Championship in France, but was unable to take part due to a shoulder injury. [5] [15]
In July 2013, he signed an extended player squad contract with the Queensland Reds for the 2014 Super Rugby season. [5] [16]
In June 2016, he was included in the 33-member Australia team for the 2016 England rugby union tour of Australia. [17] He made his debut at inside centre against England, in the defeat in Brisbane. Australia would go on to be white-washed in the series 3–0.
Kerevi continues to play regularly for the Australian team and featured in their squad for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. [18] Following the world cup Kerevi signed with Japanese club Suntory Sungoliath who he is currently playing for in the Top League.
Kerevi was a member of the Australian men's rugby seven's squad at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The team came third in their pool round and then lost to Fiji 19-nil in the quarterfinal. [19]
His bulldozing runs were a feature of his play for GPS in the 2013 Queensland Premier Rugby competition, scoring 11 tries including one in the grand final loss to Easts.
Kerevi was hand-picked from Premier Rugby after scoring 11 tries for GPS in the 2013 season.