Riki John Flutey (born 10 February 1980) is a retired

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 played internationally for (winning 14 caps) and the

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

(one cap). Born in

Wairarapa The Wairarapa (; ), a geographical region of New Zealand, lies in the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay Region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service t ...

, New Zealand, he represented New Zealand in the U19 age group before qualifying to play for England through residency. A

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

, he played for , and the

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in New Zealand before moving to England in 2005. He then played for

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club that most recently competed in the Premiership Rugby, Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England. The club also participated in the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Champion ...

and London Wasps in England,

Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of ), commonly known as simply Brive, is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglome ...

in France and

Ricoh Black Rams Black Rams Tokyo (formerly Ricoh Black Rams) is a Japanese rugby union team in the Japan Rugby League One. Being ranked tenth meant that, in order to continue in the league, it had to defeat one of the top regional clubs in a play-off, which it ac ...

in Japan.

Rugby career

Born in

, Flutey was a member of the New Zealand team that won the U19 World Cup in 1999. He first played for the New Zealand Māori in 2002. He made his representative debut for

Hawkes Bay Hawke's Bay () is a region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region is named for Hawke Bay, which was named in honour of Edward Hawke. The region's main centres are the cities of Napier and Hastings, while the more rural ...

in 1998, and from 1999 to 2005 he played for the

Wellington Lions The Wellington Rugby Football Union (known as the Wellington Lions for competition reasons) are a New Zealand governing body of rugby union in the New Zealand province of Wellington Region. The main stadium is Sky Stadium (formerly named Wes ...

in the

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship (NP ...

. Flutey made his debut for the

against the

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in the opening round of the 2002 Super 12. After making only five appearances in the

2005 Super 12 season The 2005 Super 12 season was the tenth season of the Super 12, contested by teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The season ran from February to May 2005, with each team playing all the others once. At the end of the regular seaso ...

, Flutey moved to England to play for

. After his arrival at the Exiles the team achieved a play-off place in the 2005–06 Guinness Premiership, losing to the

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 ...

. That season, Flutey also started in the final of the

European Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception ...

, losing to

Gloucester Rugby Gloucester Rugby are a professional rugby union club based in the West Country city of Gloucester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was formed in 1873 and since 1891 has played its home matches ...

. At the end of the 2006–07 season, Flutey left London Irish to join London Wasps. He was rewarded for an excellent 2007–08 début season with Wasps, winning the

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, and he was named Player of the Year at the PRA awards. Flutey decided to join

Top 14 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 ...

club

, from the 2009–10 season, joining other English internationals such as

Andy Goode Andrew James Goode (born 3 April 1980) is an English sports pundit and former rugby union player. Goode had an 18-year professional career playing over 400 games and scoring over 4,000 points. He played professionally in England, France and S ...

, Steve Thompson and

Jamie Noon Jamie Darren Noon (born 9 May 1979 in Goole) is a retired rugby union footballer who played at centre. Career Hard-running centre Noon joined the Newcastle Falcons for the 1998-99 Allied Dunbar Premiership, after a letter from one of his sch ...

. He played just five games for the club before his season was ended by a shoulder injury. Flutey rejoined London Wasps for the 2010–11 season after just one season at Brive. He was contracted for two-years but, by mutual consent, the contract was cancelled as his time in France was blighted by a shoulder injury. The club were not pleased that he choose to play for in the 2010

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Six Nations, branded as Guinness M6N) is an annual international rugby union competition by the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is the oldest sports tournament conte ...

having just recovered from injury and not having featured for the club for months. He re-injured the same shoulder playing for England in the tournament and was ruled out of playing again during the 2009–10 season. At the end of the 2012 season Flutey quit Wasps to join

England

Flutey qualified for England on residency grounds at the beginning of the 2008–09 season – he had announced on 14 May 2008 that he would be available for England selection as soon as he had completed his three-year residential qualification in September. On 1 July 2008, Flutey was named in Martin Johnson's first England Elite Squad. Flutey made his

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

debut against the

Pacific Islanders Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subreg ...

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

on 8 November 2008. He scored his first international try against in the 2009 Six Nations. After two narrow losses against and , he was influential in England's 34–10 victory over , scoring two tries and setting up another. In the next game against , he scored again and was chosen as the man of the match. His four tries in the

2009 Six Nations The 2009 Six Nations Championship, known as the RBS 6 Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 10th Six Nations Championship, and the 115th international championship, an annual rugby union competition contested by the six major European national ...

was the joint highest.

British & Irish Lions

He was selected for the

for their 2009 tour to South Africa. It is often stated that he became the first person to play for and against the Lions when he played for them in the third and final

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of the tour. This is inaccurate. The first man to play for and against the Lions was Tom Reid from Limerick in Ireland. Reid played for the Lions in 1955. Later he played against the Lions when he turned out of Eastern Canada against the Lions in Toronto in 1959.

Assault case

On 3 December 2001 Flutey was charged with grievous bodily harm in Rosario, Argentina. Argentinian teenager Gabriel Capotosti suffered a broken nose and right eye socket that required corrective plastic surgery in an unprovoked assault by Flutey outside a mini mart. Consequently, Flutey spent four nights in a police cell, then under house arrest at the team's hotel while the Wellington union arranged his bail of US$35,000 (NZ$84,800), before returning to New Zealand on 10 December 2001. Gabriel Capotosti's family later filed a civil suit against Flutey. The case was finally settled in December 2008, with the charges completely dropped on condition that Flutey does not reoffend for a set period.

References

External links