Raymond 'Ray' Niuia (born 1991) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

born Samoan

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 ...

player who currently plays for

Moana Pasifika Moana Pasifika is a rugby union team made up of players from various Pacific island nations as well as New Zealand or Australian born players of Pasifika heritage, including Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands. The team was originally crea ...

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 ...

. He has also played for both the and the . His position of choice is

Hooker Hooker may refer to: People * Hooker (surname) Places Antarctica * Mount Hooker (Antarctica) * Cape Hooker (Antarctica) * Cape Hooker (South Shetland Islands) New Zealand * Hooker River * Mount Hooker (New Zealand) in the Southern Alps * Hoo ...

Bunnings NPC

Niuia made 26 appearances and scored 10 points for in 4 seasons. In 2018 Niuia his debut for the

Tasman Mako The Tasman Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere, a bay at the north end of the South Island in New Zealand. Headquartered in Nelson, TRU is New Zealand's newest provincial union, founded in 2006 with t ...

against at

Lansdowne Park Lansdowne Park is a urban park, historic sports, exhibition and entertainment facility in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, owned by the City of Ottawa. It is located on Bank Street adjacent to the Rideau Canal in The Glebe neighbourhood of central Otta ...

. Niuia made 10 appearances for the Mako in the 2018 season as the side finished third in the premiership division. Niuia missed the

2019 Mitre 10 Cup The 2019 Mitre 10 Cup season was the fourteenth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 8, when Southland hosted Northland. It involved the top fourtee ...

due to commitments with

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 ...

and the

2020 Mitre 10 Cup The 2020 Mitre 10 Cup season was the fifteenth 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 hosted Canterbury. It involved the top ...

with injury as the Mako won back to back premiership titles. Niuia signed with the

Manawatu Turbos The Manawatu Rugby Football Union (MRU) is the governing body of the sport of rugby union in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. Founded in 1886, Manawatu is one of New Zealand's oldest rugby unions. In 1892, the MRU, amongst other ...

for the

2021 Bunnings NPC The 2021 Bunnings NPC season was the sixteenth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 6, when Manawatu hosted Counties Manukau. It involved the top f ...

Super Rugby

Niuia was named in the

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

squad but only played 1 game before being named in the squad for the

2020 Super Rugby season The 2020 Super Rugby season was the 25th season of Super Rugby, an international men's rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR involving teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. It is the third tournament in its ...

. He suffered a season ending injury on his Blues debut. Niuia finally returned from injury in Round 5 of the

Super Rugby Trans-Tasman Super Rugby Trans-Tasman (known as Harvey Norman Super Rugby Trans-Tasman in Australia and Sky Super Rugby Trans-Tasman in New Zealand) was a professional men's rugby union club competition in Australia and New Zealand. It featured the five ...

competition in 2021 against the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. F ...

and came off the bench the following week in the final of the competition against the in a 23-15 win for the Blues. He signed with

for the

2022 Super Rugby Pacific season The 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season (known as Harvey Norman Super Rugby Pacific in Australia and DHL Super Rugby Pacific in New Zealand) is the 27th season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams fr ...

Samoa

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

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Niuia, Ray Living people Samoan rugby union players 1991 births Samoa international rugby union players North Harbour rugby union players Tasman rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players Blues (Super Rugby) players Manawatu rugby union players Moana Pasifika players Rugby union hookers