Sekope Kepu (born 5 February 1986) is a retired Australian professional rugby union player. He is a prop and last played for Moana Pasifika in

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 ...

in 2024. He has previously played for Australian club

New South Wales Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), often referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team based in Sydney that represents the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby Pacific competition. The Waratahs play t ...

, the French club

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

, and

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 ...

. He also plays for Australia's

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...

in international matches. Kepu made his international debut for Australia in 2008 and has been a regular in match-day squads ever since, now having played over 100 tests. Kepu is the most-capped prop to ever play for the Wallabies and is also one of the most-capped rugby players in history.

Early life

Kepu was born in Sydney, Australia, to Tongan parents, but his family relocated to

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

while he was still a youngster. He began playing rugby with Tamaki Rugby Football Club Under 7s and attended school in the Auckland suburb Glen Innes. Kepu captained the Wesley College first XV from the number eight position in 2004 before switching to the front row with the New Zealand under-19s in 2005. He represented New Zealand at under 17, 19 and 21 levels.

Rugby Union career

Between 2005 and 2007, Kepu was a member of the wider training group for the Chiefs, and was a standout player for Counties Manukau in the Air New Zealand Cup in 2006. A broken collarbone ended his 2007 season and saw him end the year without a Super 14 contract. Kepu moved back to Sydney at the age of 21 to play for the NSW Waratahs. He made his Super Rugby debut against the Highlanders in Dunedin, playing as the starting loosehead after Wallabies prop was ruled out due to a head knock. In June 2008, Kepu played for Australia A in the 2008 Pacific Nations Cup. He was selected for the Wallabies on the 2008 and 2009 Spring tours, and made his test debut on 8 November 2008, against Italy at Padova. He gained two more test caps from the bench on those tours but then waited for more than a year to make another test appearance. Kepu had a strong season at the Waratahs in 2011 with 13 Super Rugby appearances, including 12 starts. In the

2011 Tri Nations Series The 2011 Tri Nations Series was the sixteenth annual Tri Nations rugby union series between the national rugby union teams of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, respectively nicknamed the All Blacks, Wallabies and Springboks. It was also t ...

, Kepu became the first choice loosehead prop for the Wallabies after Benn Robinson was ruled out of the entire campaign due to a knee injury. Kepu started in all four tests and cemented his position. Australia won the 2011 Tri Nations cup. Kepu was a key player for Australia at the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

, starting in six of the seven matches that the Wallabies played. In March 2013, he re-signed with Australian Rugby to commit to the Wallabies and Waratahs for a further two years. Since then, Kepu has played at tighthead rather than loosehead prop for the Wallabies. Kepu's re-signing led to him starting in all three knockout rounds of the

2015 Rugby World Cup The IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was ...

, but he was ill-disciplined in the final against New Zealand, on 31 October 2015, which Australia lost 17–34. Kepu's third Super Rugby try against the Chiefs in round 15 of 2017 was well received by the press. He had an excellent 2017 season, being one of the best-performing Wallabies of the year. During his 90th test, Kepu ended the season being red-carded against Scotland on 25 November 2017. In the 39th minute of the test, he shoulder-charged Scottish flanker Hamish Watson's head, with Australia leading 12–10 at the time. Australia failed to perform well with Kepu off the field, losing 53–24. Kepu became the second Wallaby to be sent off in that decade, teammate

Tevita Kuridrani Tevita Kuridrani (born 31 March 1991) is a Fijian-born Australian rugby union player. His usual position is Centre (rugby union), outside-centre. He is currently with French club Biarritz Olympique, Biarritz and previously played for the Brumbies ...

having been sent off in 2013. In October 2018, Kepu became the first prop to make 100 appearances for Australia, appearing against New Zealand in a 37–20 loss. On 6 May 2019, it was announced that he had signed for

in the Gallagher Premiership. On 8 February 2021 it was confirmed that he had left the club for personal reasons. Kepu is currently playing for Counties Manukau in the 2021 NPC, and will captain Moana Pasifika for the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific Competition.

References

External links