Ross Ami Filipo (born 14 April 1979) is a retired New Zealand

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. Filipo's career included long stints with

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

, and

Bayonne Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the France–Spain border, Spanish border. It is a communes of France, commune and one of two subprefectures in France, subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments of France, departm ...

in the

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 ...

competition, and appearances for the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

in 2007-2008.

Career

New Zealand

Filipo first played provincial rugby for

Marlborough Marlborough or the Marlborough may refer to: Places Australia * Marlborough, Queensland * Principality of Marlborough, a short-lived micronation in 1993 * Marlborough Highway, Tasmania; Malborough was an historic name for the place at the sou ...

in 2001. He then played for Wellington B in 2002, and made his debut for

in 2003. Although he had played for the

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

development squad in 2003, he was not selected for the Hurricanes in 2004 and instead was drafted into the

for the 2004

Super 12 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

. He then stayed with the Crusaders for the Super 12 and Super 14 until the 2009 season whilst playing for Wellington in the

Air New Zealand Cup An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

(formerly the National Provincial Championship) until 2008. Filipo played for the New Zealand Māori in 2005 when they defeated the

British and 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 ...

for the first time – he cites this as a career highlight. After the

2007 Super 14 season The 2007 Super 14 season started in February 2007 with preseason matches held from mid-January. It finished on 19 May with the final at Kings Park Stadium in Durban, in the first final between two South African teams in the history of Super Rug ...

where Filipo scored six tries he was selected for the

Junior All Blacks The All Blacks XV is the second national rugby union team of New Zealand, after the All Blacks. New Zealand's second national team has had numerous names in its history: Junior All Blacks, New Zealand XV, New Zealand A, New Zealand B, All Blacks ...

. After injuries to

All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

locks

Ali Williams Alexander James Williams (born 30 April 1981) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player who played as a lock most notably for Super Rugby club Blues and the New Zealand national team. Williams spent almost all of his playing car ...

and Keith Robinson, Filipo was called into the All Blacks squad. Filipo was also selected for the All Blacks end of season

Grand Slam tour In rugby union, a Grand Slam occurs when one team in the Six Nations Championship (or its Five Nations predecessor) beats all the others during one year's competition. This has been achieved 42 times in total, for the first time by Wales in 190 ...

at the end of 2008; he played against Scotland and Munster during this tour. He was also one of the regular guests on the Rugby Roundtable, which is a rugby union podcast based out of New Zealand.

Europe

In April 2009 it was announced that Filipo would be signing for

in the French

competition; he left for Bayonne at the conclusion of the

2009 Super 14 season The 2009 Super 14 season kicked off in February 2009 with pre-season matches held from mid-January. It finished on 30 May, when the Bulls won their second Super Rugby title with a decisive 61–17 victory over the Chiefs at Loftus Versfeld sta ...

. On 11 April 2011 it was announced that Filipo would be signing for

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

in the English

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby u ...

Return to New Zealand

Filipo retired from professional rugby and returned to New Zealand in 2014, before being called up to play for the Chiefs in 2015. This reawakened his passion for playing and he turned out for Hamilton Marist as a player-coach, winning the Waikato Club Rugby title with them. This preceded a stint in France with

Racing 92 Racing 92 () is a French professional rugby union club based in the Hauts-de-Seine department, Paris' western inner Banlieue, suburbs that competes in Top 14. The club plays its home matches at the 30,681-capacity Stadium#Types, domed stadium Pa ...

in the

before returning to New Zealand with

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 ...

. From there he turned to coaching properly, taking a role as assistant-coach with the Coca-Cola Red Sparks in the

Top League Japan Rugby League One (), formerly known as the Top League (), is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by ...

in 2017, where he stayed for two years. He was asked to play as well. 2019 saw Filipo move to an assistant coach role with Taupiri as well as entering a Coach Educator role with Waikato Rugby. In 2020 Filipo assisted with coaching

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

in the

, working on defence and the forwards. Filipo was subsequently appointed as the head coach of the Waikato team for the 2021 Mitre 10 Cup season.

Personal life

Filipo is a New Zealander of Māori descent (

Muaūpoko Muaūpoko is a Māori iwi on the Kāpiti Coast of New Zealand. Muaūpoko are descended from the ancestor Tara, whose name has been given to many New Zealand landmarks, most notably Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington). His people were known as ...

descent).

External links

* * * * *
Profile Ross Filipo

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Filipo, Ross 1979 births Living people Muaūpoko people New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union locks Rugby union players from Lower Hutt New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in France Māori All Blacks players Crusaders (rugby union) players Chiefs (Super Rugby) players Wellington rugby union players Aviron Bayonnais players Wasps RFC players Racing 92 players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in England Hawke's Bay rugby union players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in Japan