Samuela Vatuniveivuke Kerevi (born 27 September 1993) is a Fijian-born Australian

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 currently playing for

Urayasu D-Rocks Urayasu D-Rocks, commonly known as the D-Rocks, or the Shining Arcs, is a rugby union team owned by NTT Communications and is part of Japan's Rugby League One competition, currently in Division 1. Given the name, the team is based in Urayasu Ci ...

in the

Japan Rugby League One 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, b ...

. His usual position is

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 ...

. He previously played for the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team based in Brisbane for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union ...

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 has played for the Australian national team.

Family and early life

Samuela Kerevi was born in Viseisei,

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

. He moved with his family to Australia at aged 4. His father, Nimilote Kerevi, is a former Fiji international soccer player. His brother Josua Kerevi has also played representative rugby. Kerevi attended

Brisbane State High School Brisbane State High School (BSHS or commonly State High) is a partially selective, co-educational, state secondary school, located in South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is a member of the Great Public Schools Association of Queensland, ...

, and represented Queensland at the Australian Schools Rugby Championships in 2011. Kerevi obtained Australian citizenship in August 2016.

Rugby career

In 2012, Samu Kerevi (his ref name was Musashi) played Premier Rugby for GPS Old Boys in Brisbane. He was selected alongside his brother Josua in the Fiji Under-20 team for the

2012 IRB Junior World Championship The 2012 IRB Junior World Championship was the fifth IRB Junior World Championship, an annual international rugby union competition for Under-20 national teams. This competition replaced the now defunct Under 19 and Under 21 world championship ...

in South Africa. In the opening pool match against Wales, he scored the first try of the tournament and he followed that up with a double against Samoa. Kerevi was a member of the ARU's National Academy in 2012 and 2013. He was selected for Australia Under-20 to play in the

2013 IRB Junior World Championship The 2013 IRB Junior World Championship was the sixth, IRB Junior World Championship, an annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in France by rugby's governing body, the IRB. A total of twe ...

in France, but was unable to take part due to a shoulder injury. In July 2013, he signed an extended player squad contract with the Queensland Reds for the 2014 Super Rugby season. In June 2016, he was included in the 33-member

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 ...

team for the

2016 England rugby union tour of Australia In June 2016, England played a three-test series against as part of the 2016 mid-year rugby union tests. They played the Wallabies across the three weeks of the June International window, 11 June–25 June, and contested the Cook Cup, which Eng ...

. He made his debut at

inside centre 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� ...

against

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 ...

, in the defeat in Brisbane. Australia would go on to be white-washed in the series 3–0. Kerevi continues to play regularly for the Australian team and featured in their 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 matc ...

. Following the world cup Kerevi signed with Japanese club

Suntory Sungoliath Tokyo Sungoliath (formerly known as Suntory Sungoliath) is owned by the Suntory beverage company and is one of the Japanese rugby union teams in the Top League. The team is based in Fuchū, Tokyo, as is their local rival Toshiba Brave Lupus. The t ...

who he is currently playing for 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 ...

. Kerevi was a member of the Australian men's rugby seven's squad at the

Tokyo 2020 Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. The team came third in their pool round and then lost to Fiji 19-nil in the quarterfinal. Full details.

Reference list

External links

Stats on itsrugby.fr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerevi, Samu 1993 births Living people Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Olympic rugby sevens players for Australia Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players for Australia Rugby sevens players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Rugby union centres Queensland Reds players Brisbane City (rugby union) players People educated at Brisbane State High School Rugby union players from Lautoka I-Taukei Fijian people Australian people of I-Taukei Fijian descent Fijian emigrants to Australia Tokyo Sungoliath players 2019 Rugby World Cup players 2023 Rugby World Cup players Australian expatriate rugby union players in Japan Urayasu D-Rocks players 21st-century Australian sportsmen