Taioalo "Junior" Vaivai (born 18 January 1990) is a Professional Rugby League player. He is also a

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

international who last played as a for

Toulouse Olympique Toulouse Olympique or TO XIII is a professional rugby league club in Toulouse, south-west France. Founded in 1937, two years after the French Rugby League Federation, the club is a six-time winner of the French Rugby League Championship. The clu ...

in the English Super League. He has previously played for the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Greater Western Sydney suburb of Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The team is based west of the cen ...

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers (often abbreviated to Hull KR) are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Craven Park, Hull, Craven Park and compete in Super League, the top tier of B ...

and the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

Background

Vaivai was born in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand. He also played his junior football for Redbank Plains Bears in the Ipswich junior rugby league. Vaivai played his junior

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

for the Goodna Eagles and the

Easts Tigers The Brisbane Tigers are a rugby league club based at Langlands Park, in the suburb of Coorparoo in Brisbane, Australia. Since 1996, they have competed in the Queensland Cup, having competed in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership (rugby league ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, Australia. Vaivai has previously worked as a

personal trainer A personal trainer is an individual who creates and delivers safe and effective exercise programs for healthy individuals and groups, or those with medical clearance to exercise. They motivate clients by collaborating to set goals, providing m ...

at Aventus Health and Fitness, in Warrawong, Australia. He is the cousin of

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor and professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on a part-time basis. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional w ...

Senior career

South Sydney Rabbitohs (2009–11)

Covering for an injury to Beau Champion, Vaivai made his

début in round 24 of the 2009 season, against the

. In 2009 and 2010, he played for the

in the National Youth Competition. Vaivai scored 40 tries in 40 matches and kicked 40 goals from 42 attempts . Vaivai was named at , in the 2009 National Youth Competition 'Team of the Year.' Vaivai was also named in Steve Price’s Toa Samoa squad in 2010 but was ruled out due to injury.

Penrith Panthers (2011)

Vaivai joined Penrith for the remainder of the 2011 season, making his club début as a late call-up to cover for an injury to Luke Lewis. Junior Vaivai

Illawarra Cutters (2013)

In 2013, Vaivai joined the Illawarra Cutters in the

New South Wales Cup The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

Western Suburbs Red Devils (2017)

In 2017, Vaivai played for the

Western Suburbs Red Devils The Western Suburbs Red Devils (Wests Illawarra, Wests Wollongong, Wests Red Devils or simply Wests Devils) are an Australian rugby league football team based in Figtree, a suburb of Wollongong. The club is a member of the Country Rugby League ...

in the

Illawarra Rugby League The Illawarra Rugby League is a rugby league competition in Wollongong, NSW. It is one of the oldest rugby league competitions in Australia, founded in 1911 with five clubs (Dapto, Helensburgh, Mount Keira, Unanderra and Wollongong). The area p ...

competition.

Hull Kingston Rovers (2018 – present)

In February 2018, Vaivai signed a one-year contract with

in the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

. After a lengthy and drawn-out

Visa Visa most commonly refers to: * Travel visa, a document that allows entry to a foreign country * Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Vi ...

application process, which frustratingly prevented Vaivai from making his début for Hull Kingston Rovers, Taioalo finally made his first appearance for Hull Kingston Rovers in round 11 of the 2018 Super League season, in a 40–26 defeat against the

Warrington Wolves Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England. They play home games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. Warringto ...

at the

Halliwell Jones Stadium Halliwell Jones Stadium is a rugby league stadium in Warrington, England, which is the home ground of the Warrington Wolves. It has also staged Challenge Cup semi-finals, the European Nations Final, the National League Grand Finals' Day, two g ...

. Vaivai scored his first try for Hull Kingston Rovers on 13 May 2018, in a 10–28

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

home defeat against

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

at Craven Park. It was revealed on 2 July 2018, that Vaivai had signed a new two-year contract extension to play and remain at Hull Kingston Rovers until at least the end of the 2020 rugby league season.

York City Knights (Loan)

It was announced on 23 May 2019, that Vaivai had joined the

York City Knights The York Knights are the men's professional rugby league team of York RLFC, based in York, England. The club play their home games at York Community Stadium and currently compete in the RFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of Briti ...

on a one month loan deal with fellow

' teammate, Will Oakes. On 26 May 2019, Vaivai made a try-scoring début for York City in a 12–16 victory over

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

Toulouse Olympique

In 2019, Vaivai joined

RFL Championship The Rugby Football League Championship, (known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second highest division of rugby league in British rugby league system, Britain (with one team in the league also being based in France) ...

side Toulouse Olympique and was part of the side which gained promotion to the Super League after defeating

Featherstone Featherstone is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, two miles south-west of Pontefract. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, in 2011 ...

in the 2021

Million Pound Game Million Pound Game (stylized as £1M Game) was an annual rugby league game that decides which Championship teams will be promoted to Super League, and which Super League teams would be relegated for the following season. Instituted in 2015 and ...

. On 18 May 2022, Vaivai announced he was departing Toulouse with immediate effect.

Representative career

USA (2016–17)

Qualifying through his

American Samoa American Samoa is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. Centered on , it is southeast of the island count ...

n mother and grandmother, Vaivai made his début for the

in their 2016 America's Cup match against

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

. On 24 September 2017, Vaivai was named in the

' 23-man squad for the

2017 Rugby League World Cup The 2017 Rugby League World Cup was the fifteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup tournament and took place in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 27 October and 2 December 2017. The tournament featured the national teams ...

Representative career statistics

Honours

Individual Honours (Career Awards and Accolades)

* 2009 National Youth Competition: 'Team of the Year'

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaivai, Taioalo 1990 births Living people 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen American expatriate rugby league players American expatriate sportspeople in England American expatriate sportspeople in France Brisbane Tigers players Expatriate rugby league players in France Hull Kingston Rovers players Illawarra Cutters players Naturalized citizens of the United States New Zealand emigrants to Australia New Zealand expatriate rugby league players in Australia New Zealand expatriate rugby league players in England New Zealand expatriate rugby league players in France New Zealand people of American Samoan descent New Zealand rugby league players Penrith Panthers players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Auckland South Sydney Rabbitohs players Toulouse Olympique players United States national rugby league team players Windsor Wolves players York Knights players