Michael Savea Ala'alatoa (born 28 August 1991) is a

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 ...

professional player who currently plays as a

prop A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors 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 Leinster in the united rugby championship and Heineken Champions Cup competitions.

Early life

Born into a rugby household where father Vili was a member of the squad for the

1991 Rugby World Cup The 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Five Nations Championship. This wa ...

, Alaalatoa was quickly introduced into the sporting world and played rugby, volleyball and cricket in his childhood.

Club career

Rugby was where he excelled and he played three years in the

Newington College , motto_translation = To Faith Add Knowledge , location = Inner West and Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = A ...

First XV. He made his way through the ranks in the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Shute Shield The Shute Shield is a semi-professional rugby union competition in Sydney, Australia. It is the premier club competition in New South Wales. The Shute Shield is awarded to the winning team from the Sydney premiership grand final held at the end ...

, initially with Southern Districts and later West Harbour. Some impressive performances at that level saw him become a regular member of the Waratahs wider training squad in 2014. An injury to regular front-rower

Paddy Ryan Patrick Ryan (15 March 1851 – 14 December 1900) was an Irish American boxer, and became the bare-knuckle American heavyweight champion on May 30, 1880, after he won the title from Joe Goss. He retained the title until losing it to the exce ...

saw Alaalatoa called up to the Waratahs first team for the final round of league matches in the

2014 Super Rugby season The 2014 Super Rugby season is the fourth season of the 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. For sponsorship reasons, this competition is known as Asteron Life Super Rugby i ...

. He made his debut as a second-half replacement in the Waratahs 34-3 victory over the in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. Leading up to the 2015

ITM Cup ITM may stand for: Education * ITM Global School, an English medium co-educational day school in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India * ITM Law School, one of the professional graduate schools of ITM University * ITM-IFM, Mumbai, India * Institut Tek ...

Alaalatoa moved to New Zealand and signed to play for where he had a solid season that earned him a 2016

super rugby 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 ...

contract with the It was announced on 12 April 2021 that Alaalatoa would be moving to

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

to play Pro 14 and European Cup rugby starting in the 2021/22 season.

International career

Alaalatoa was a member of the Samoa Under 20 side that competed in the

2011 IRB Junior World Championship The 2011 IRB Junior World Championship was the fourth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams, this competition replaced the now defunct under 19 and under 21 world championships. The event was organised by rugby' ...

. Alaalatoa was eligible to play international rugby for Samoa, Australia through birth and New Zealand through residency. On 23 August 2019, he was named in Samoa's 34-man training squad for the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

, before being named in the final 31 on 31 August.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alaalatoa, Michael 1991 births Living people People educated at Newington College Australian rugby union players Rugby union props Sportsmen from New South Wales New South Wales Waratahs players New South Wales Country Eagles players Australian sportspeople of Samoan descent Rugby union players from Sydney Manawatu rugby union players Crusaders (rugby union) players Samoa international rugby union players Moana Pasifika players Leinster Rugby players