Rima Shane Wakarua-Noema (born 25 March 1976) is a former 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 ...

footballer and coach. He played as a fly-half for North Harbour in New Zealand before moving to Italy in 1999, where he played for Leonessa, Gran Parma, I Cavalieri and Unione Rugby Prato Sesto. During his time there, he became a naturalised citizen and was called up to the Italy national team for the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

Biography

Born in Auckland, New Zealand, to a New Zealand father and a Scottish mother, Wakarua is a naturalised Italian, having moved there in 1999. He was brought into the

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

squad for the 2003 Rugby World Cup having only played in the second tier of the Italian league and had not even been involved in squad get-togethers. His performance with the boot saw Italy overcome

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

. He has 11 caps and has scored 99 points for Italy.

References

External links

6 Nations profile
* 1976 births Living people Rugby union players from Auckland Italian rugby union players New Zealand rugby union players Italian people of New Zealand descent New Zealand people of Scottish descent New Zealand Māori sportspeople Italy international rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves Cavalieri Prato players 2003 Rugby World Cup players {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1970s-stub