Setaimata Sa (born 14 September 1987) is a professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who last played for the

Mackay Cutters The Mackay Cutters are a semi-professional rugby league football club based in Mackay, Queensland. They compete in Queensland's top rugby league competition, the Queensland Cup. The club was admitted to the Queensland Cup in 2007, alongside th ...

in the

Intrust Super Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League (QRL) and is contested by fif ...

Background

Sa was born in Samoa. His junior club was Shirley before he was poached by the Papanui Tigers as a 9 year old in the

Canterbury Rugby League Canterbury Rugby League is the regional body that administers rugby league in Canterbury, New Zealand. CRL manages local competitions from senior level down to age group competitions. Canterbury Rugby League also manages the Canterbury rugby le ...

competition.

Rugby league career

Sa made his first grade debut for the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

against St. George Illawarra in round 7 of the

2006 NRL season The 2006 NRL season was the 99th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the ninth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen clubs competing for the 2006 Te ...

. In his final year at the club during the

2009 NRL season The 2009 NRL season was the 102nd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the twelfth run by the National Rugby League. For the third consecutive year, sixteen teams competed for the 2009 Telstra Premiersh ...

, he made 20 appearances as the Sydney Roosters finished last for the first time since 1966 and claimed the

Wooden Spoon A wooden spoon is a Kitchen utensil, utensil commonly used in food preparation. In addition to its culinary uses, wooden spoons also feature in folk art and culture. History The word ''spoon'' derives from an ancient word meaning a chip of woo ...

. On 30 August 2009, Setaimata Sa was charged with assault, resisting arrest, malicious damage and failure to leave a licensed premises, after a drunken episode in a Sydney hotel. He played for the

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French language, French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan language, Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. Despite being based in France the ...

in 2010 after sealing a release from the final two years of his Sydney Roosters contract. The deal was a

part exchange __NOTOC__ A part exchange or part exchange deal is a type of contract. In a part exchange, instead of one party to the contract paying money and the other party supplying goods/services, both parties supply goods/services, the first party supplyin ...

transfer involving Jason Ryles moving in the opposite direction. In 2014 Sa transferred to Hull F.C. on a contract until the end of 2015. On 25 October 2016, Sa signed a three-year contract with Australian Rugby League team

who play in the

International career

He was called up for the 2008

ANZAC day Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia, New Zealand and Tonga that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders "who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations" and "the contribution and ...

test at the SCG. In August 2008, Sa was named in the New Zealand training squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth World Cup for men’s rugby league national teams. It was held between 26 October and 22 November and was won by New Zealand, who defeated Australia 34–20 in the final in one of the greatest ...

, and in October 2008, he was named in the final 24-man

Kiwi Kiwi most commonly refers to: * Kiwi (bird), a flightless bird native to New Zealand * Kiwi (nickname), an informal name for New Zealanders * Kiwifruit, an edible hairy fruit with many seeds * Kiwi dollar or New Zealand dollar, a unit of curren ...

squad. He also represented

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

on five occasions scoring four tries. In 2006 he was selected for the New Zealand Tri-Nations squad but was not selected for any of the matches in the series. In 2007 he was in running to be selected for New Zealand again but missed out through injury along with Kiwi international and

teammate

Iosia Soliola Iosia Soliola (born 4 August 1986) is a former professional rugby league footballer who last played for the Canberra Raiders in the National Rugby League (NRL). He played for New Zealand and Samoa at international level. He previously played as ...

. Sa was a member of the World Cup winning New Zealand team beating Australia in the 2008 World Cup Final at

Suncorp Stadium Brisbane Stadium (Lang Park), currently known as Suncorp Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Milton, Queensland, Milton, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Nicknamed The Cauldron, it is a three-tiered rect ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. Sa was eligible to represent

Rugby union career

When at

Shirley Boys' High School Shirley Boys' High School (), also known as SBHS, is a single sex state (public) secondary school in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was originally situated on a 6 hectare site in the suburb of Shirley, but in April 2019 moved, along with Av ...

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

he played Rugby for the school's first XV. In 2012 Sa signed a contract to switch codes and play

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 ...

for the

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 ...

club, which was finally completed in January 2013 after he received a work permit.Former Kiwi Sa signs with English club rugby
''The Press'', 3 May 2012 On 9 November 2012, he made his debut for the Samoan national team against

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 ...

References

External links

Profile at sydneyroosters.com.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sa, Setaimata 1987 births Catalans Dragons players Samoan expatriate rugby league players in Australia Expatriate rugby league players in France Samoan expatriate rugby union players in England Hull F.C. players Living people London Irish players Mackay Cutters players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players New Zealand expatriate rugby league players in England New Zealand expatriate rugby league players in France New Zealand national rugby league team players Papanui Tigers players People educated at Shirley Boys' High School Rugby league centres Rugby league five-eighths Samoa international rugby union players Samoa national rugby league team players Samoan emigrants to New Zealand Samoan expatriate rugby league players Samoan expatriate rugby league players in France Samoan rugby league players Samoan rugby union players 21st-century Samoan sportsmen Sydney Roosters players Widnes Vikings players Rugby union centres