Melani Nanai (born 3 August 1993) is a Samoan

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 plays as an outside back for the Vancouver Highlanders.

Early career

Born and raised in Samoa, Nanai came to New Zealand to attend high school at De La Salle College in the southern part of Auckland. He later returned home to his native Samoa at the end of his 5th form in 2009 before returning to New Zealand in 2011. He worked packing boxes and doing dispatch in

East Tāmaki East Tāmaki is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It is a largely industrial area adjacent to a rapidly growing population. Prior to the 1960s it was largely a dairy farming area. A landmark is Smales Mountain which in 2010 has the remains of ...

while playing club rugby, first for Otahuhu and latterly for Manukau Rovers where he came under the wing of

All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

legend,

Frank Bunce Frank Eneri Bunce (born 4 February 1962) is a retired New Zealand rugby union player and coach. He played international rugby for both Western Samoa and New Zealand in the 1990s, appearing in the 1991 and 1995 World Cups. He played in four i ...

. His brother's, Kitiona and Codemeru Vai, are currently contracted to the All Blacks 7's squad. His father Kitiona Nanai Vai was a Samoan Rugby international, whilst his sister Corina Nanai Vai and his wife, Bridie Nanai also represented Auckland Storm in the Farah Palmer Cup.

Senior career

Although not initially named in the Auckland squad for the

2014 ITM Cup The 2014 ITM Cup season was the ninth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 14, when Taranaki (National Provincial Championship), Taranaki hosted Count ...

, Nanai's impressive form at club level for Manukau Rovers saw him break into their top team and make 5 appearances during the campaign which ended with him being named development player of the year. A first team squad member in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, Nanai scored 3 tries in 6 games as Auckland finished as Premiership runner-up, going down narrowly to in the final and this time he was named as Auckland's rookie of the year.

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

was not such a good year for Auckland, as they finished 5th on the log, while Nanai's try scoring and appearance stats were the same as the previous year, 3 tries in 6 matches. In addition to playing for Auckland at provincial level, he has also represented them in sevens rugby as well as winning the World 10s Championship with the . He joined

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby ...

side

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors are a professional rugby union club based in Worcester, England. They most recently played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby union, before being suspended by the Rugby Football Union, RFU in September 2 ...

ahead of the 2019–20 season. He remained at the club until the end of the 2022 season before returning to New Zealand. In July 2022, Melani signed to play in the NPC for Bay Of Plenty alongside brothers Kitiona and Codemeru Vai for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. He went on to play for the Crusaders Super Rugby side in 2023 under the guidance of Scott Robertson. Following this, he was scheduled to play for Rugby New York in the MLR for 2024, but after the club filed closure in December 2023, Nanai signed to play for the newly formed Vancouver Highlanders in the Rugby Players Challenge Summer Series.

Super Rugby

Just 5 appearances at provincial level were enough to convince Auckland-based Super Rugby franchise the Blues to name him in their wider training group for the

2015 Super Rugby season The 2015 Super Rugby season was the 20th season of Super Rugby and the fifth season featuring an expanded 15-team format. For sponsorship reasons, this competition was known as Asteron Life Super Rugby in Australia, Investec Super Rugby in New ...

. He enjoyed a hugely impressive debut campaign playing at Super Rugby level, making 13 starts in the outside back positions and scoring 3 tries.

Tana Umaga Jonathan Ionatana Falefasa Umaga (; ; born 27 May 1973) is a New Zealand former rugby union footballer and former captain of the national team, the All Blacks. He is head coach of Moana Pasifika in the Super Rugby competition. He was granted ...

replaced Sir John Kirwan as Blues head coach ahead of the

2016 Super Rugby season The 2016 Super Rugby season was the 21st season of Super Rugby and the first season featuring an expanded 18-team format. It was also the first season that teams outside Australia, New Zealand and South Africa featured, with the Jaguares from Ar ...

and he promoted Nanai to their first team squad. Again he was a regular through 2016, mostly in the fullback position vacated by Charles Piutau and this time he scored 5 times in 11 appearances. Melani continued to play for the Blues until 2019, gaining 64 appearances for the franchise and in the same year winning the award for Blues’ Players Player of the Year. In 2023 he returned to Super Rugby in a move to the Crusaders on a one-year deal.

International

Nanai was a member of the Samoa Under-20 team which competed in the

2013 IRB Junior World Championship The 2013 IRB Junior World Championship was the sixth, IRB Junior World Championship, an annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in France by rugby's governing body, the IRB. A total of twe ...

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where he scored 3 tries in 5 appearances. He also played in the number 15 jersey for the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

in their 31–31 draw against at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

on 5 November 2016. He scored the game's opening try in the 4th minute. On 14th September 2024, Nanai made his debut for the Samoan Men's International side during the Pacific Nation's Cup in Tokyo against the Brave Blossoms side debuting from the bench in the midfield. Manu Samoa lost the game 49-27.

Super Rugby statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nanai, Melani 1993 births Living people Samoan rugby union players Rugby union wings Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union centres Auckland rugby union players Blues (Super Rugby) players Worcester Warriors players Rugby union players from Apia Barbarian F.C. players Samoan emigrants to New Zealand Bay of Plenty rugby union players Crusaders (rugby union) players Samoan expatriate rugby union players in England