Taioalo Vaivai

Taioalo "Junior" Vaivai (born 18 January 1990) is a United States international rugby league footballer who plays as a centre for Toulouse Olympique in the Championship. He has previously played for the Penrith Panthers, Hull Kingston Rovers and the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the National Rugby League.

Junior Vaivai
Personal information
Full nameTaioalo Junior Vaivai
Born (1990-01-18) 18 January 1990
Auckland, New Zealand
Height5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight15 st 10 lb (100 kg)
Playing information
PositionCentre, Five-eighth
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2009–11 South Sydney Rabbitohs 4 1 0 0 4
2011 Penrith Panthers 8 0 0 0 0
2018–19 Hull Kingston Rovers 35 14 0 0 56
2019(loan) → York City Knights 3 3 0 0 12
2019– Toulouse Olympique 0 0 0 0 0
Total 50 18 0 0 72
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2016–17 United States 8 7 17 0 62
2019– United States 9s 1 1 0 0 4
As of 19 October 2019
Source: [1][2]

Background

Vaivai was born in Auckland, New Zealand. He also played his junior football for Redbank Plains Bears in the Ipswich junior rugby league

Personal life

Vaivai has previously worked as a personal trainer at Aventus Health and Fitness, in Warrawong, Australia.

He is the cousin of American professional wrestler and actor, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.[3][4]

Playing career

Early career

Vaivai played his junior rugby league for the Goodna Eagles and the Easts Tigers in Brisbane, Australia.[5]

Playing positions

He primarily plays as a centre, but he can also play as a five-eighth.

2009

Covering for an injury to Beau Champion, Vaivai made his National Rugby League début in round 24 of the 2009 season, against the Penrith Panthers.[5]

2009-10

In 2009 and 2010, he played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the National Youth Competition.

Vaivai scored 39 tries and kicked 33 goals in 42 matches.[6]

Vaivai was named at centre, in the 2009 National Youth Competition 'Team of the Year.'[7]

2011

On 5 May 2011, Vaivai was stood-down from the Rabbitohs after he was convicted of assaulting his girlfriend.[8]

2011

Vaivai joined the Penrith Panthers for the remainder of the 2011 season, making his club début as a late call-up to cover for an injury to Luke Lewis.[9]

Vaivai training with the Penrith Panthers during his time at the club

2013

In 2013, Vaivai joined the Illawarra Cutters in the New South Wales Cup.[10]

2017

In 2017, Vaivai played for the Western Suburbs Red Devils in the Illawarra Rugby League competition.[4]

2018

In February 2018, Vaivai signed a one-year contract with Hull Kingston Rovers in the Super League.

After a lengthy and drawn-out Visa application process, which frustratingly prevented Vaivai from making his début for Hull Kingston Rovers, Taioalo finally made his first appearance for Hull Kingston Rovers in round 11 of the 2018 Super League season, in a 40–26 defeat by the Warrington Wolves at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.[11]

Junior scored his first try for Hull Kingston Rovers on 13 May 2018, in a 10-28 Challenge Cup home defeat by the Wigan Warriors at Craven Park.

It was revealed on 2 July 2018, that Vaivai had signed a new two-year contract extension to play and remain at Hull Kingston Rovers until at least the end of the 2020 rugby league season.[12][13]

2019

It was announced on 23 May 2019, that Vaivai had joined the York City Knights on a one month loan deal with fellow Hull Kingston Rovers' teammate, Will Oakes.

On 26 May 2019, Vaivai made a try-scoring début for the York City Knights in a 12-16 victory over the Widnes Vikings.

2016

Qualifying through his American Samoan mother and grandmother, Vaivai made his début for the United States in their 2016 America's Cup match against Jamaica.[4]

2017

On 24 September 2017, Vaivai was named in the United States' 23-man squad for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.[14]

Representative career statistics
DateOpponentTGFGPtsRef
23 July 2016 Jamaica
1
1/1
0
6
[15]
24 September 2016 Canada
0
1/3
0
2
[16]
1 October 2016 Canada
1
4/4
0
12
[17]
22 July 2017 Jamaica
3
8/8
0
28
[18]
16 September 2017 Canada
1
3
0
10
28 October 2017 Fiji
1
0
0
4
[2]
5 November 2017 Italy
0
0
0
0
12 November 2017 Papua New Guinea
0
0
0
0

Honours

Individual Honours (Career Awards and Accolades)

References
  1. loverugbyleague
  2. "Junior Vaivai". Rugby League Project.
  3. Jennings, Mitch (9 September 2016). "The only reason I kept playing was because of Dwayne: Vaivai". Illawarra Mercury.
  4. Walter, Brad. "Vaivai looking to USA for redemption shot". RLWC2017. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  5. "Rabbitohs Teams for Round 24 vs Panthers". rabbitohs.com.au. 18 August 2009. Archived from the original on 12 September 2009.
  6. "NYC Database – V". NYC Database. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  7. Campton, Nick (2 July 2015). "Under-20s 2009 Team of the Year: Where are they now?". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  8. Dale, Amy (5 May 2011). "Junior Vaivai stood down after assault conviction". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  9. Massoud, Josh (18 June 2011). "Phil Gould's first recruit Junior Vaivai to début tonight". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  10. Hall, Sam (10 January 2013). "GALLERY: Illawarra Cutters aiming higher". Illawarra Mercury. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  11. "Tickle and Vaivai boost Hull KR". rugby-league.com. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  12. "Vaivai signs on the dotted line". 2 July 2018.
  13. "Vaivai extends contract at Hull KR". 2 July 2018.
  14. "Team USA". RLWC2017.com. 24 September 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  15. "United States 54 : 4 Jamaica". Rugby League European Federation.
  16. "Canada 8 : 14 United States". Rugby League European Federation.
  17. "United States 20 : 14 Canada". Rugby League European Federation.
  18. Williams, Steve (24 July 2017). "USA Hawks vs Jamaica Reggae Warriors Game Report". USARL.com. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
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