Deacon Tehanakore Manu (born 18 February 1979 in

New Plymouth New Plymouth () is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, in Devon, from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. The New Pl ...

, New Zealand) is a New Zealand-born retired

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 ...

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 ...

footballer. He played as a

prop A prop, formally known as a (theatrical) property, is an object actors use on stage or screen during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

for the

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby c ...

in the

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

, having signed from the Chiefs in 2006. He was also the head coach of Hong Kong Cricket Club in the HKRFU Premiership, and is now a Physical Education teacher with ACS (International) in Singapore.

Career

Playing

Born in

Taranaki Taranaki is a regions of New Zealand, region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano Mount Taranaki, Taranaki Maunga, formerly known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the ...

, Manu began his rugby career with

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

, the province immediately to the north of Taranaki. He made his debut for Waikato in 1999, playing against a Japanese XV. He made a further 65 appearances for Waikato during his time there. In 2001, he was selected for the Waikato Chiefs Super 12 squad. He made his debut for the Chiefs in their opening game of the

2001 Super 12 season The 2001 Super 12 season was the sixth season of the Super 12, an annual rugby union competition contested by teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The season ran from February to May 2001, with each team playing all the others on ...

, a 42–23 loss to the Waratahs. Manu played for the Chiefs for a further five years before being signed by the Welsh club

in the summer of 2006. He made his competitive debut for the Scarlets on 8 September 2006, coming on as a 29th-minute substitute for John Davies in a 31–17 victory over the

Glasgow Warriors The Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and beca ...

. Manu has international experience playing for the New Zealand Māori, having played against the

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

during their

2005 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand In 2005, the British & Irish Lions rugby union team toured New Zealand for the first time since 1993, playing seven matches against first and second division teams from the National Provincial Championship, one match against the New Zealand Mao ...

. He has also played for the New Zealand Universities and New Zealand Under 21s. In the lead-up to the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup () was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by F ...

, Manu expressed his availability for selection to the Fijian selectors. Although he had played all of his representative rugby for New Zealand teams up to that point, Manu was eligible for

through his Fijian mother. Manu made his debut for Fiji in 2009 against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and captained Fiji in their game against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in June 2010. He later returned for the 2010 end of year tour and was handed the captaincy of the Fiji team again. He later captained the side in the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

. He last represented Fiji on 17 November 2012 against the

Ireland Wolfhounds The Ireland Wolfhounds (also known as Ireland A and Ireland B) are the second national rugby union team of Ireland, behind the Ireland national team. History The Wolfounds previously competed in the Churchill Cup together with the England Sax ...

Coaching

On 28 April 2014, Manu announced that he would retire at the end of the 2013-14 European season, and take up the role of Head Coach for Hong Kong Cricket Club, which is a rugby union club that plays in the HKRFU Premiership. In January 2020, Manu joined Dragons Rugby Club, which plays in the Junior Rugby Clubs Singapore conference, as a head coach. In March 2020, Manu was appointed by ACS (International) to a PE maternity leave position In August 2021, Manu was appointed a role as a coach in the Dulwich College Singapore staff.

Personal life

Deacon Manu is married and has 3 children. He is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

References

External links

Profile
at scarlets.co.uk
Profile
at allblacks.com
Profile
at twitter.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Manu, Deacon 1979 births Living people New Zealand rugby union coaches New Zealand rugby union players Fiji international rugby union players Rugby union props Scarlets players People educated at Francis Douglas Memorial College Rugby union players from New Plymouth Māori All Blacks players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players Fijian expatriate rugby union players in Wales New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Wales New Zealand people of I-Taukei Fijian descent 2011 Rugby World Cup players Chiefs (Super Rugby) players Blues (Super Rugby) players Waikato rugby union players