Namulauulu Alama Ieremia (born 27 October 1970) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School 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 it ...

coach and former international player for

Western Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

and

Early life

Ieremia was born in Sinamoga, a suburb of

Apia Apia () is the capital and largest city of Samoa, as well as the nation's only city. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō'') of Tuamasaga. ...

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

. He was educated in Samoa at Addington Primary School in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

and later at

Samoa College Samoa College is a secondary school in Samoa officially opened in 1953. It is co-educational and teaches from years 9 to 13. It is in Apia on the island of Upolu and is considered the main college in the country. The early college and curriculum was ...

. He returned to New Zealand in 1991 to study Geography at Victoria University, where he began playing rugby.

Playing career

Ieremia played provincial rugby with

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

between 1992 and 2000, which included a National Provincial Championship title in his final season with the club. He played Super Rugby with the

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

from its inaugural season in 1996, with Alama having the distinction of scoring the first ever try in Super rugby, against Auckland Blues in Palmerston North - Auckland Blues went on to win the match 36–28. The Hurricanes finished 9th at the end of the season. Alama's best season came in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

, when the Hurricanes made it to the Semi finals haven finished third at the end of the Regular season. However the Hurricanes went down to the

ACT Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005–2022 as simply the Brumbies) is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the feral horses which inh ...

33–20 in Canberra. Ieremia was a regular selection for the Hurricanes, forming a reliable and formidable midfield partnership with Jason O'Halloran. In 2001, Ieremia moved to Japan to play for Suntory Sungoliath, which included a season as captain, before returning to New Zealand in 2004 after retiring from playing rugby.

International career

Ieremia began playing international rugby in 1992 for the national side

. He made his debut on 13 June at

Apia Park Apia Park is a multi-function sports complex located in Apia, the capital of Samoa. Primarily used for rugby union events, Apia Park is the home stadium of the Samoa national rugby union team, Manu Samoa. It is also a venue for association footba ...

against

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

, with Western Samoa winning 22–17. He earned 5 caps for Western Samoa, his last coming against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

at Eden Park on 31 July 1993, New Zealand winning 35–13, with the match being the first official international between the two countries. With the lack of eligibility regulations in rugby before the professional era, Ieremia haven proven himself at Super Rugby level, was selected for the All Blacks in 1994. Ieremia's promotion to the All Blacks was rapid, due to the shock 2–0 series loss to France in June 1994. He was subsequently introduced for the three tests against the

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

, playing at second five eighth with Frank Bunce, another who had been blooded by Samoa at test level, outside him at

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 eccentri ...

. Ieremia was named in the All Blacks squad for the

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in Sou ...

, but played only the pool match against Japan, where he also scored his first ever international try. For most of 1995 and 1996 the All Blacks' preference was for Walter Little as Bunce's partner and it was only an injury to Little that gave Ieremia his first extensive run as a regular test selection in 1997. An injury sustained during the 1998 Super 12 ruled him out of All Black selection that year, but he returned in 1999, and for the first part of the international season, he was used mainly at centre but for the bulk of the 1999 Rugby World Cup later in the year he was back at second five. In 2000 he was again an All Black first choice, mainly again as a centre. Ieremia, a cheerful, articulate personality, was a strong, incisive runner and at 1.87m and 100 kg an imposing and powerful defender. He also had well developed skills and a solid boot. At his best, and when free from injury, he was one of the most consistently successful midfielders

rugby has had. When he left

rugby at the end of the 2000 season to take up an overseas contract, Ieremia had played 40 matches for the

, including 30 tests. Ieremia also represented

at the 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens and

at the 1997 Rugby World Cup Sevens.

Honors

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

Webb Ellis Cup The Webb Ellis Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the men's Rugby World Cup, the premier competition in men's international rugby union. The Cup is named after William Webb Ellis, who is often credited as being the inventor of rugby footb ...

**Runners-up:

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Bledisloe Cup The Bledisloe Cup is an annual rugby union competition originally staged between the national teams of Australia's Wallabies and New Zealand's All Blacks that has been contested since the 1930s. The frequency that the competition is held has va ...

**Winners: 1997 * Tri Nations **Winners: 1996,

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**Runners-up:

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

*South Pacific Championship **Winners: 1992, 1993

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship, o ...

**Winners: 2000

Coaching career

After retiring from playing rugby in 2004, Ieremia took up a coaching role with Suntory Sungoliath, specializing as backs and attack coach. After two seasons in Japan, which saw Suntory make it to the final for the first time in over five years, Ieremia returned to New Zealand in 2007 as an assistant coach with the

Wellington Lions The Wellington Rugby Football Union (known as the Wellington Lions for competition reasons) are a New Zealand governing body of rugby union in the New Zealand province of Wellington Region. The main stadium is Sky Stadium (formerly named West ...

. He helped guide Wellington to their second consecutive final, only to lose to Auckland 23–14. He was later named as the WRFU Academy head coach, a position he held for a year. On 25 September 2008, Alama Ieremia was appointed to the Hurricanes coaching team for the 2009 and

2010 Super 14 season The 2010 Super 14 season kicked off in February 2010 with pre-season matches held from mid-January. It finished on 29 May. The 2010 season was the fifth and last season of the expanded Super 14 format. The schedule, which covers 3½ months, feat ...

. Ieremia earned the accolade of becoming the first former player to become part of the coaching staff of the team. In his first season as attack coach, he helped the Hurricanes to third in the regular season, before losing to the Chiefs in the semi-final 14–10. Despite this, the Hurricanes had scored more points than any other team of 380, their nearest rivals being the Blues with 339. The following year, saw the Hurricanes drop to eighth on the table, failing to make the play-off for the first time since 2007. When

Colin Cooper Colin Terence Cooper (born 28 February 1967) is an English football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a defender who notably played in the Premier League for Nottingham Forest and Middlesbrough. He played ove ...

left the side in 2010, Mark Hammett retained Ieremia as the attack coach for the 2011 and

2012 Super Rugby season The 2012 Super Rugby season was the second season of the current 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition, which involves teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. For sponsorship reasons, this competition is known as FxPro Super R ...

. In 2012, he was praised in the media for bring through young All Blacks talent, and therefore was retained for a further 2 seasons. When Hammett left the club in 2014, Ieremia went with him, joining the Samoan national team as attack coach. His first game was a 33–14 loss to Japan. In February 2015, he was appointed interim general manager of Samoan rugby's high performance unit.

Head coach of Samoa

On 23 December 2015, he was named head coach of the Manu Samoa, taking over from Stephen Betham, who resigned after the 2015 Rugby World Cup. In his first match in charge, he led Samoa to a 19–all draw against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, in which saw 9 players making their debut. A week later they went down to Fiji 26–16, before finishing their June internationals with a 30–10 victory over

seeing Samoa finish second in the 2016 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup. During the 2016 end-of-year internationals, Ieremia led Samoa to a single victory, beating

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

25–23. The other tests saw Samoa lose to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

52–8 and

20–16. In the 2017 mid-year internationals, Samoa lost all four games. This included a 78–0 loss to

, which was the first time since 1996 that Samoa had failed to score any points in a test match. The following week saw

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

defeat Manu Samoa in

for the first time since 1986, losing 19–17. The 2017 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup saw Samoa finish in last place for the first ever time, this came following a first loss to Samoa since 2011, 30–26, and a historic win for Fiji in Apia 38–16. It was the first time since 2002 that Fiji had won in Samoa, and set a new winning margin in Samoa of 22 points. Following a review following Samoa's June/July campaign, Ieremia resigned as Samoan head coach on 5 August. He left the post with a 20% win rate, just 2 wins from 10 matches.

Auckland coach

In December 2017 he was appointed head coach for the Auckland Rugby Union.

Honors

''(as assistant coach)'' *

IRB Pacific Nations Cup The Pacific Nations Cup is an international rugby union competition held between three Pacific states: Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. The 2019 edition of the tournament will also include the national teams of Canada, Japan and United States. First held ...

**Winners:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

(joint with Japan) **Runners-up: 2015

''(as assistant coach)'' *

**Runners-up: 2007

References

External links

All Blacks

Hurricanes

Samoa bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ieremia, (Cheapshot)Alama 1970 births New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand rugby union coaches Rugby union centres Sportspeople from Apia Samoa international rugby union players Samoan emigrants to New Zealand Hurricanes (rugby union) players Wellington rugby union players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in Japan New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Japan Tokyo Sungoliath players Samoa international rugby sevens players Male rugby sevens players Samoan rugby union coaches Living people