To’o Vaega

Last updated
To'o Vaega
Birth nameTo'o Malo Vaega
Date of birth (1965-08-17) 17 August 1965 (age 53)
Place of birth Moto'otua, Samoa
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight90 kg (14 st 2 lb; 198 lb)
Notable relative(s) Cardiff Vaega (son)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Centre
Amateur team(s)
YearsTeamApps(Points)
1988-1990
1991
1995-1997
2000		 Suburbs
Hastings High School Old Boys
Star Rugby Club
Waitakere City		 ()
Senior career
YearsTeamApps(Points)
1993-1994 Moata'a ()
Provincial / State sides
YearsTeamApps(Points)
1988-1990
1990-1991
1991
1992
1995-1997
2000		 Auckland
Auckland B
Hawke's Bay
Auckland
Southland
Bay of Plenty [1] 		()
Super Rugby
YearsTeamApps(Points)
1996–97
2000		 Highlanders
Blues 		13
1		 (20)
(0)
National team(s)
YearsTeamApps(Points)
1986-2001Flag of Samoa.svg  Samoa 61 (71)

To'o Vaega (born 17 August 1965 in Moto'otua, Samoa) is a retired professional rugby union footballer, best known for his long career with the Samoan national team.

Motootua is a settlement in Samoa. It is home to the Tupua Tamasese Meaole Hospital.

Samoa country in Oceania

Samoa, officially the Independent State ofSamoa and, until 4 July 1997, known as Western Samoa, is a country consisting of two main islands, Savai'i and Upolu, and four smaller islands. The capital city is Apia. The Lapita people discovered and settled the Samoan Islands around 3,500 years ago. They developed a unique Samoan language and Samoan cultural identity.

Rugby union Team sport, code of rugby football

Rugby union, commonly known in most of the world simply as rugby, is a contact team sport which originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is between two teams of 15 players using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field with H-shaped goalposts at each end.

Contents

Career

Vaega made his debut for Samoa against Wales on 14 June 1986, starting one of the longest international careers in modern rugby union history. By the time of his final cap against Ireland on 11 November 2001, he had represented his country 61 times in a 15-year period.

Samoa national rugby union team national rugby union team of Samoa

The Samoa national rugby union team is governed by the Samoa Rugby Union. The name Manu Samoa is in honour of a famous Samoan warrior. They perform a traditional Samoan challenge called the siva tau before each game. Samoa Rugby Union were formerly members of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA) along with Fiji and Tonga. They are ranked 16th in the world.

Wales national rugby union team Nation rugby team from Wales

The Wales national rugby union team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 27 times outright. Wales' most recent championship and Grand Slam victory came in 2019.

Ireland national rugby union team sports team

The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. They are ranked third in the world by World Rugby as of 18 March 2019. The team competes annually in the current Six Nations Championship, which they have won fourteen times outright and shared nine times in its various formats. The team also competes every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions. Ireland is also one of the four unions that make up the British and Irish Lions – players eligible to play for Ireland are also eligible for the Lions.

Vaega starred for Samoa in three World Cups, but is most remembered for scoring a critical try in Samoa's historic 16-13 victory over Wales in Cardiff during the 1991 Rugby World Cup.

Cardiff Capital and largest city of Wales

Cardiff is the capital of Wales, and its largest city. The eleventh-largest city in the United Kingdom, it is Wales's chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural institutions and Welsh media, and the seat of the National Assembly for Wales. At the 2011 census, the unitary authority area population was estimated to be 346,090, and the wider urban area 479,000. Cardiff is a significant tourist centre and the most popular visitor destination in Wales with 21.3 million visitors in 2017. In 2011, Cardiff was ranked sixth in the world in National Geographic's alternative tourist destinations.

The 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Five Nations Championship. This was the first Rugby World Cup to be staged in the northern hemisphere, with England the hosts of the championship game. Following on from the success of the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup, the 1991 World Cup received increased attention and was seen as a major global sporting event for the first time. Also for the first time, qualifying competitions were introduced as the number of entrants had increased from 16 nations four years before to a total of 33 countries. The eight quarter-finalists from 1987 qualified automatically with the remaining eight spots contested through qualifiers by 25 countries. This however resulted in only one new side qualifying for the tournament, Western Samoa replacing Tonga. The same 16-team pool/knock-out format was used with just minor changes to the points system.

Outside of his duties with the Samoan national team, Vaega enjoyed a long club career in New Zealand, most notably with Southland and the Highlanders in the mid-1990s. He was an original Highlander in the first Super 12 campaign in 1996, and set a franchise record with three tries in a match that year against Western Province, a record he shares to this day.

New Zealand Country in Oceania

New Zealand is a sovereign island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, and the South Island —and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, and plant life. The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland.

Western Province (rugby team) rugby union team in South Africa

Western Province is a South African rugby union team based in Newlands, Cape Town, that participates in the annual Currie Cup and Vodacom Cup tournaments. Founded in 1883, the team has won multiple titles, a record of 34 Currie Cup titles including the inaugural competition, the Vodacom Cup, the Absa Nite Series, and the Lion Cup. The club has the most supporters of any Currie Cup team.

Vaega's son Cardiff Vaega, named for the site of Samoa's victory over Wales in 1991, [2] is currently playing for Southland in the ITM Cup competition.

Cardiff Vaega is a New Zealand rugby union player. He plays in the centre position for the Wellington based Super Rugby side the Hurricanes, and for provincial side Southland. Vaega has represented at under-17 level for New Zealand. He made his debut for Southland in 2011 and his strong performances saw him named in the Hurricanes squad for the 2014 Super Rugby season. Vaega is also son of To'o Vaega, who played for Southland and the Highlanders among other sides in New Zealand. To'o also played for Samoa he had represented his country 61 times in a 15-year period. Starting one of the longest international careers in modern rugby union history.

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References

  1. ↑ To'o M. V. Vaega at New Zealand Rugby History
  2. ↑ Egan, Brendon (4 March 2011). "Name celebrates Samoa's first World Cup win". The Southland Times . Retrieved 23 November 2011.

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