Loki Crichton (born 14 March 1976) is a former

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 Island, Manono an ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

international player. He played at

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

or fly-half.

Club career

As a schoolboy he attended Auckland's Kelston Boys High School on a scholarship from

, playing for their 1st XV, then moving to Counties Manukau where he played for Manurewa Rugby Club from 1995 to 2001. He also made 48 appearances for the Counties Manukau Steelers playing at fly-half and

alongside

Jonah Lomu Jonah Tali Lomu (12 May 1975 – 18 November 2015) was a New Zealand professional rugby union player. Lomu is considered to have been the first true global superstar of rugby, and consequently had a huge impact on the game. He is widely regarde ...

and Joeli Vidiri. He transferred to

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

in 2002. He played for the Chiefs in the

Super 14 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

and Waikato in the

Air New Zealand Cup The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

. He made his debut for the Chiefs in 2000 in a match against the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

. In 2005 he suffered serious neck injury which almost ended his career. Having travelled north with the

Pacific Islanders Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of Oce ...

Loki joined Newcastle on a short-term deal to cover the ongoing problems with

Jonny Wilkinson Jonathan Peter Wilkinson, CBE (born 25 May 1979) is an English former rugby union player. A fly-half, he played for Newcastle Falcons and Toulon and represented England and the British & Irish Lions. He is particularly known for scoring the ...

and the

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

call up for Toby Flood for the 2007 Six Nations Championship. In 2007 he signed for the

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top division of domestic ...

on a two-year deal that kept him at

Sixways Sixways Stadium is a stadium in Worcester, England. It is currently used for rugby union and association football matches and is the home stadium of Premier 15s side University of Worcester Warriors and football side Worcester Raiders. Prio ...

until 2009. He was released after the 2008-09 Guinness Premiership. He now plays for

L'Aquila L'Aquila ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of both the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L'Aquila. , it has a population of 70,967 inhabitants. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide vall ...

in the Top12.

International career

He has represented

on a number of occasions. Loki Crichton was originally selected to play for Samoa at the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

however the Waikato Rugby Union refused to release him. He instead made his debut for

in 2006, during the inaugural

2006 IRB Pacific 5 Nations The 2006 IRB Pacific 5 Nations was the inaugural IRB Pacific 5 Nations rugby union competition held between five Pacific Rim sides; Fiji national rugby union team, Fiji, Japan national rugby union team, Japan, Samoa national rugby union team, Sa ...

, the same year his contract with Waikato had finished. That year he was also named in the

touring squad for 2006. But later withdrew. Loki Crichton was selected in Samoa's

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 ...

squad in 2007 and scoring 27 points with a 100% penalty kick success rate and got the man of the match award in the 44–22 loss to

References

External links

Worcester Warriors Profile
a
Warriors.co.uk

Manu Samoa supporters website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crichton, Loki 1976 births Living people Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union fullbacks Samoan rugby union players Newcastle Falcons players Worcester Warriors players Chiefs (rugby union) players People from Tuamasaga Samoa international rugby union players Pacific Islanders rugby union players Samoan expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in New Zealand Expatriate rugby union players in Italy Expatriate rugby union players in England Samoan expatriate sportspeople in England Samoan expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Samoan expatriate sportspeople in Italy