Peter Samu (born 17 December 1991) is an Australian professional

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 is currently a loose forward for the Bordeaux Begles in the French

Top14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

competition. He has represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in international rugby. After several seasons playing in Australia and England, Samu gained his professional career breakthrough in New Zealand, firstly with in the

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 ...

and then the in Super Rugby.

Early life

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Samu attended Cranbourne Secondary College. He first made his way in rugby playing for

Moorabbin Rugby Club The Moorabbin Rugby Union Football Club, is a rugby union football club based in Moorabbin, Victoria, Australia. Nicknamed the Rams, the club's home ground is located in Keys Road reserve in Cheltenham and was found in 1965. The club's colours ar ...

in his juniors before moving interstate to Brisbane and playing a handful of games in the first grade for Sunnybank Rugby. Samu played minimal first grade rugby in Brisbane, due to Wallabies (at the time) Jake Schatz and Liam Gill.

Professional career

In 2012, Samu moved to Sydney to play for

Randwick Randwick is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Randwick is located 6 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government ar ...

where he played majority of his rugby in premier division for the

Shute Shield The Shute Shield, currently known as the Charter Hall 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 fro ...

. He played a strong season in 2012 and won the most valuable player of the year award for the Shute Shield competition. Samu also had two-year stint in England playing local club rugby for St. Ives from 2010. He later moved to New Zealand in 2014 and began playing for Waimea Old Boys in the Tasman club rugby competition.

Tasman and Crusaders

Samu first made the 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 ...

and helped himself to 4 tries in 9 games as the Mako reached the competition's final before losing out to . The following year, the men from

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

reached the semi-finals of the

2015 ITM Cup The 2015 ITM Cup season was the tenth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 13, when Southland hosted Auckland. It involved the top fourteen rugby uni ...

with Samu once more playing 9 times while this time bagging 5 tries before scoring 3 times in 11 games in

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 ...

when the Makos were again defeated finalists, this time going down to . Samu played for the Knights development team in 2015 and was named as their player of the year before being promoted to their senior squad 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 ...

. With competition for places tough among a star-studded Crusaders line-up which featured the likes of

Kieran Read Kieran James Read (born 26 October 1985) is a New Zealand former rugby union player. He played as a number 8 and is a former captain of the New Zealand national team, the All Blacks. Read played for New Zealand from 2008 to 2019. He is one of ...

and

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 ...

, it was perhaps unsurprising that Samu only made 4 substitute appearances during his debut season. He was retained in the squad for

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 ...

Wallabies and Brumbies

On 29 May 2018, Samu joined the

Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005 to 2022 as simply the Brumbies) is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the feral horses which inh ...

for the

2019 Super Rugby season The 2019 Super Rugby season was the 24th season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. The 2019 season was the second season using the ...

with the possibility of a

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...

call-up.

Union Bordeaux Begles

Samu signed for Union Bordeaux Begles ahead of the 2023 Top14 season. He scored 5 tries for UBB in his first season with the club. In December 2024, he scored two tries during a 42–28 victory over

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its home ...

in the opening round of the

2024-25 European Rugby Champions Cup A coxless four, abbreviated as a 4- and also called a straight four, is a racing shell used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain. The crew consists of four ...

. In April 2025, he scored a try in the Champions Cup quarter-finals during a 47–29 victory over

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

. In May 2025, he scored a try in the Champions Cup semi-finals during a 35–18 victory over reigning champions

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

to help his side reach their first ever European final.

Statistics

List of international test tries

''As of 3 July 2022''

Honours

; Bordeaux Bègles * 1×

European Rugby Champions Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pr ...

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

References

External links

Pete Samu
at

*
Pete Samu
at ESPNscrum {{DEFAULTSORT:Samu, Peter 1991 births Living people Australia international rugby union players Australian sportspeople of Samoan descent Australian rugby union players ACT Brumbies players Canberra Vikings players Crusaders (rugby union) players Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights Rugby union players from Melbourne Tasman rugby union players Australian expatriate rugby union players in England Australian expatriate rugby union players in New Zealand Randwick DRUFC players St Ives RFC (Cornwall) players Union Bordeaux Bègles players 21st-century Australian sportsmen