Api Ratuniyarawa (born 11 July 1986) is a registered sex offender and ex-professional

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 most recently played for English Premiership side

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club that most recently competed in the Premiership Rugby, Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England. The club also participated in the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Champion ...

until they went into administration. He was named in Fiji's squad for the

2015 Rugby World Cup The IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was ...

Playing career

Northampton Saints

In September 2016, he signed for

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union. It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. ...

joining another Fijian player,

Campese Ma'afu Campese Ma'afu, (born 19 December 1984) is an Australian professional rugby union player. Ma'afu was selected to the Fiji national squad in 2010 and has gone on to win more than 50 caps. Ma'afu has also played professionally for Cardiff Blues, N ...

at the club. After joining Saints, the lock featured in three games for the club before being called away to

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

for the Autumn Internationals, earning his 20th cap for his country against his

teammates

Dylan Hartley Dylan Hartley (born 24 March 1986) is a former rugby union player who represented England and Northampton Saints. Hartley was the captain of England from January 2016 until the end of his international career in 2019. Earning his first cap in ...

Courtney Lawes Courtney Linford Lawes (born 23 February 1989) is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a flanker for Pro D2 club Brive and formerly for the England national team. Early life Lawes was born 23 February 1989 in Hackney t ...

and Teimana Harrison at Twickenham on Saturday 19 November 2016. Having racked up 31 appearances for the club, Ratuniyarawa was involved in the Saints' campaign to secure European Champions Cup rugby for the 2017/18 season. They beat

Stade Francais Stade (; ), officially the Hanseatic City of Stade (, ) is a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany. First mentioned in records in 934, it is the seat of the district () which bears its name. It is located roughly to the west of Hamburg and b ...

in the European Champions Cup play-off final by one point to seal the last spot in the following season's competition, Ratuniyarawa coming off the bench to make an impact in that fixture.

International

The forward was also selected for Fiji's international summer series for 2017 alongside fellow Northampton Saint,

Sexual assault conviction

In November 2023, Ratuniyarawa was charged with sexual assault by South Wales Police. He later pled guilty to two counts of assault by penetration and one count of sexual assault at Cardiff Crown Court. He was granted bail until a sentencing hearing on 9 January 2024 and was placed on the sex offenders register. He was given a two year and ten month jail term in January 2024. He is still serving his sentence in the UK and is facing potential deportation at the end of his sentence, despite having strong family ties to the UK.

References

External links

* 1986 births Living people Fijian rugby union players Fiji international rugby union players Rugby union players from Sigatoka Fijian expatriate rugby union players in France Fijian expatriate rugby union players in England SU Agen Lot-et-Garonne players Northampton Saints players Rugby union locks Fijian expatriate rugby union players in New Zealand 2015 Rugby World Cup players 2019 Rugby World Cup players North Harbour rugby union players 21st-century Fijian sportsmen {{Fiji-rugbyunion-bio-stub