Timoci Tavatavanawai Tabaleka (born 14 February 1998) is a Fijian

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who plays for in the

Bunnings NPC Bunnings Group Limited, trading as Bunnings Warehouse or Bunnings, is an Australian hardware and garden centre chain. The chain has been owned by Wesfarmers since 1994, and has stores in Australia and New Zealand. Bunnings was founded in Pert ...

and the in

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

. He plays mostly in the

Wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

position but can also play

Centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

Career

Born and raised in Fiji, Tavatavanawai played for the Fiji national under-20 rugby union team before moving to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

where he started playing for the Central Rugby Club in the

Marlborough Region Marlborough District or the Marlborough Region (, or ''Tauihu''), commonly known simply as Marlborough, is one of the 16 regions of New Zealand, located on the northeast of the South Island. It is administered by Marlborough District Counci ...

. He was part of both the and wider squads during the

2021 Super Rugby season The 2021 Super Rugby season was the 26th season of Super Rugby, an annual men's international rugby union tournament organised by SANZAAR, involving teams from Australia and New Zealand. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the tournament was wholly reg ...

. He was named in the Tasman Mako squad for the

2021 Bunnings NPC The 2021 Bunnings NPC season was the 16th season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 6, when Manawatu hosted Counties Manukau. It involved the top 14 rugb ...

. Tavatavanawai made his debut for Tasman in Round 1 of the competition against , starting at number 14 in a 14-27 win for the Mako. After a very impressive first 7 games for Tasman Tavatavanawai was signed by

Moana Pasifika Moana Pasifika is a professional rugby union team based in New Zealand and made up of players from various Pacific Island nations as well as New Zealand or Australian born players of Pasifika heritage, including Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and the Cook I ...

in October 2021 for the

2022 Super Rugby Pacific season The 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season (known as Harvey Norman Super Rugby Pacific in Australia and DHL Super Rugby Pacific in New Zealand) is the 27th season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams f ...

. Tasman went on to make the final before losing 23–20 to . Tavatavanawai made his debut for Moana Pasifika, starting at number 11 in Round 7 of the 2022 season against the . After 20 games for Moana, Tavatavanawai signed with the for 2 years and was named as captain alongside Hugh Renton for the

2025 Super Rugby Pacific season The 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season (known as SMARTECH Super Rugby Pacific in Australia, Shop N Save Super Rugby Pacific in Fiji and DHL Super Rugby Pacific in New Zealand) is the 30th season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition orga ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tavatavanawai, Timoci Fijian rugby union players 1998 births Living people Rugby union wings People educated at Queen Victoria School (Fiji) Tasman rugby union players Moana Pasifika players 21st-century Fijian sportsmen Highlanders (rugby union) players Rugby union players from Tailevu Province Rugby union centres