Tavake Lecanus Liukanasi Manu (born 15 August 1988) is a retired

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

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. He played in the number 8 and occasionally flanker position for

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) or miter (American English; see spelling differences; both pronounced ; ) is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in traditional Christianity. Mi ...

side,

Otago Otago (, ; ) is a regions of New Zealand, region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local go ...

. Manu also represented

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

at international level.

Playing career

School boy rugby

While at

Christchurch Boys' High School Christchurch Boys' High School, often referred to as CBHS, is a single sex state secondary school in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is situated on a site between the suburbs of Riccarton, New Zealand, Riccarton and Fendalton, to the west of ce ...

, Manu appeared alongside All Blacks

Matt Todd Matthew Brendon Todd (born 24 March 1988) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player. He is currently an assistant coach for the Crusaders (rugby), Crusaders. Todd played as a rugby union/flanker, flanker for 25 tests for New Zealand ...

Colin Slade Colin Richard Slade (born 10 October 1987) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He played primarily at first five-eighth, as well as all other backline positions on occasions. He was first selected for the All Blacks in 2 ...

and

Owen Franks Owen Thomas Franks (born 23 December 1987) is a New Zealand rugby player who currently plays for Crusaders (rugby union), Crusaders in the Super Rugby competition. His usual position is tighthead prop. Franks has previously represented the Can ...

as well as former Crusader Tim Bateman.

Provincial Rugby

Manu made his debut for

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

in the

2007 Air New Zealand Cup The 2007 National Provincial Championship was the second season of the National Provincial Championship (known as the Air New Zealand Cup for sponsorship reasons), a provincial rugby union competition involving 14 teams from New Zealand. Match ...

scoring a try on his debut against Counties Manukau at Mt. Smart Stadium in Auckland. After missing the start of the

2010 ITM Cup The 2010 ITM Cup season was the fifth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on July 29, when Taranaki hosted Northland. It involved the top fourteen rugby union ...

with a knee injury, Manu was in excellent form through the latter part of the season, culminating in strong performances in the semi-final and final as Canterbury won the ITM Cup. In the

2011 ITM Cup The 2011 ITM Cup season was the sixth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on July 14, when Otago (National Provincial Championship), Otago hosted North Harbour ...

, Manu started every match as Canterbury won the title for the fourth consecutive season. From

2020 Mitre 10 Cup The 2020 Mitre 10 Cup season was the 15th season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on September 11, when North Harbour (National Provincial Championship), North Har ...

season, he named for

squad.

Super Rugby

Manu earned a

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

contract for the

2008 Super 14 season The 2008 Super 14 season started in February 2008 with pre-season matches held from mid-January. It finished on 31 May, when the Crusaders won their seventh Super Rugby title with a 20–12 victory over the Waratahs in front of the Crusaders' ...

at the age of just 19, and emerged as a regular performer for the club, making 12 appearances and two starts as the Crusaders rampaged to the Super 14 title. In

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, however, Manu was unable to build on the success of his freshman campaign, and was limited to only four appearances and one start. Looking for more playing time, Manu shifted to the Highlanders for the

2010 Super 14 season The 2010 Super 14 season kicked off in February 2010 with pre-season matches held from mid-January. It finished on 29 May. The 2010 season was the fifth and last season of the expanded Super Rugby, Super 14 format. The schedule, which covers 3� ...

. However, his season ended up being a total write-off as, after winning the starting job at number 8 in the preseason, he suffered a knee injury early in the season-opening contest against the Crusaders and was ruled out for the remainder of the competition. In

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, Manu managed to stay healthy and put in an excellent campaign, starting every match at number eight for the Highlanders. Manu suffered a foot injury in the opening game of the

2013 Super Rugby season The 2013 Super Rugby season was the third season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The tournament was won by the Chiefs, who defeated the Canberra-based Brumbi ...

and was ruled out for the rest of the year. Healthy again for

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, he was named co-captain of the Highlanders alongside Ben Smith.

European Rugby

After the experience with

Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...

, from

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

he played with Benetton.

International Play

Manu was a member of New Zealand's squad on their run to the world under-19 title in 2007 and under-20 title in 2008. He also was part of the New Zealand Secondary Schools in 2005 and 2006.

Post-playing Career

Since retiring in 2022, Manu has taken up a position as the Environment Welfare Manager at the Highlanders.https://www.odt.co.nz/sport/rugby/landers-chat/landers-chat-nasi-manu-opens-about-his-new-role

Personal

Manu is the nephew of the former

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 ...

and Wallaby loose forward

Daniel Manu Daniel Tai Manu is an Australian former rugby union footballer who played as flanker. He is of Tongan origin. Career Manu was born in Tonga and educated at Penrose High School, in Auckland. He played for Auckland U18 and U20 teams, as well the s ...

and is the cousin of David Manu and

Sika Manu Viliami Sikalamu "Sika" Manu (born 22 January 1987) is a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a forward for Tonga and New Zealand at international level, being a member of the World Cup winning Kiwi team who beat Australi ...

of the Melbourne Storm. His younger brother Vaka Manu had a 1-year stint with rugby in

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 ...

playing for the Stirling County Rugby Club in 2015–16. And second youngest brother Taniela Manu currently plays in the Mitre 10 cup for Northland.

Achievements

2007 Canterbury Junior Sports Person of the Year, Hadlee Awards *Canterbury •Air New Zealand/ITM Cup: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 *Crusaders •Super Rugby: 2008 *Highlanders •Super Rugby: 2015

References

External links

* * Nasi Manu a
Mobile Gaming Arcade
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Manu, Nasi 1988 births New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent Canterbury rugby union players Crusaders (rugby union) players Highlanders (rugby union) players Rugby union flankers People from Lincoln, New Zealand People educated at Christchurch Boys' High School Living people Edinburgh Rugby players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in Scotland Tonga international rugby union players Moana Pasifika players Benetton Rugby players Otago rugby union players Hino Red Dolphins players 2019 Rugby World Cup players Expatriate rugby union players in Italy New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in Japan