Beaudein Waaka (born 27 January 1994) is a

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 ...

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 currently plays for in New Zealand's domestic

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 (NP ...

and for Skyactivs Hiroshima in the Japan Rugby League One competition. He has previously played for ,

New England Free Jacks The New England Free Jacks are an American professional rugby union team based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Rugby (MLR). They were announced in September 2018 and began to compete professionally in October 2018. They co ...

, and Kobelco Kobe Steelers.

Professional career

In 2012, Waaka played for

Poverty Bay Poverty Bay (Māori language, Māori: ''Tūranganui-a-Kiwa''), officially named Tūranganui-a-Kiwa / Poverty Bay, is the largest of several small bays on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island to the north of Hawke Bay. It stretches for ...

in the

Heartland Championship The Heartland Championship is an annual Round-robin tournament, round-robin rugby union competition in men's domestic Rugby union in New Zealand, New Zealand rugby. First played in 2006, it is the third highest level of List of rugby union comp ...

and then he represented the Taranaki Bulls for 5 seasons in the

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) or miter (American English; see spelling differences; both pronounced ; ) is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in traditional Christianity. Mi ...

competition. In 2019, he signed with Manly RUFC. Like his sister, Stacey Waaka, he has also represented

New Zealand sevens The New Zealand national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. They have won a record 14 World Rugby Sevens Series titles. The team played for the ...

rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

. In 2020 Waaka would sign with the

New England free jacks The New England Free Jacks are an American professional rugby union team based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Rugby (MLR). They were announced in September 2018 and began to compete professionally in October 2018. They co ...

. In his second year with the team he would score 103 points. During the 2022 season he would finish the year 3rd in goal kickers and second in point scorers with 151. This would lead to him being named MLR player of the year for the 2022 season. Waaka named player of the year https://www.majorleague.rugby/news/new-england-free-jacks-beaudein-waaka-receives-mlr-player-of-the-year-award/ Being the first player in free jacks history to receive the honor. He would also win the MLR championship shield the following year in 2023 with the free jacks. After the 2023 season he would leave the Free jacks. Going on to sign with Skyactivs Hiroshima to play in Japan.

Honours

* Major League Rugby Championship: 2023 * Major league Rugby Player of the year:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

* All Major League Rugby first team: (2022)

References

External links

*
NZ Rugby History profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Waaka, Beaudein 1994 births Living people Rugby union players from Whakatāne New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in the United States 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Rugby union centres Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union wings Rugby union fullbacks Poverty Bay rugby union players Taranaki rugby union players Manly RUFC players New England Free Jacks players Waikato rugby union players Kobelco Kobe Steelers players Manawatu rugby union players Skyactivs Hiroshima players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in Japan New Zealand rugby union players People educated at Gisborne Boys' High School