Viliami Sikalamu "Sika" Manu (born 22 January 1987) is a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a forward for Tonga and New Zealand at international level, being a member of the World Cup winning Kiwi team who beat Australia in the

2008 World Cup Final The 2008 Rugby League World Cup final was the championship-deciding game of the 2008 Rugby League World Cup tournament. Played between New Zealand and Australia on 22 November 2008 at Brisbane's Lang Park, the match was a re-play of the 2000 Rug ...

. At club level played for the Melbourne Storm, with whom he won the

2012 NRL Grand Final The 2012 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2012 NRL season. Played on Sunday, 30 September at Sydney's ANZ Stadium between the minor premiers Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the second-placed Melbourne Sto ...

, and also the Penrith Panthers in the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

and Hull F.C. in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

Background

He was born in Wellington, New Zealand. Manu is of full Tongan descent and as a result is eligible both for New Zealand and Tonga. His older brother Filipe was also contracted to the Storm. He is cousin to the Super 15 Rugby union player from the Highlanders, Nasi Manu. He is also cousin to up and coming Rugby superstar David Manu, located in the Eastern Suburbs.Manu was educated at

Upper Hutt College Upper Hutt College is a state school, state Mixed-sex education, co-educational secondary school located in Trentham, New Zealand, Trentham in the city of Upper Hutt, New Zealand. The school opened in 1962 as the city's second state secondary sc ...

, where he played for the school's First XV rugby team.

Playing career

Early career

He played for the Randwick Kingfishers, Petone Panthers and the

Upper Hutt Tigers Wellington Rugby League is the local sporting body responsible for the administration of Rugby league in the Wellington Region, Greater Wellington region. It is responsible for the local competition of the same name, as well as its representative t ...

in the Wellington Rugby League. Manu was a part of the 2004 Junior Kiwi side who twice defeated the England Under 18s Academy. Following this series, Manu signed a NRL contract with the Melbourne Storm. Sikamanu

Melbourne Storm

Manu made his first National Rugby League (NRL) for the Melbourne Storm in 2007. He has since played over 50 games for the club. He played in the

2008 NRL Grand Final The 2008 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2008 NRL season. It was played between the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the Melbourne Storm on Sunday, 5 October at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. The 2008 Grand Final ...

defeat by Manly. Manu suffered a leg injury in the Storm's 2009 Round 21 clash with the St George Illawarra Dragons, thus ending his season. He ultimately missed the Grand Final win. Manu was selected to play for New Zealand from the interchange bench in their loss against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. On 30 September 2012 he finally played in a premiership, when Storm beat the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 14-4 in the

Penrith Panthers

On 5 June 2012 Penrith Panthers General Manager Phil Gould announced that Manu had signed a three-year deal with the Penrith club, commencing from the start of the 2013 National Rugby League season.

Hull F.C.

On 13 August 2015, he signed a 3-year contract with

team Hull F.C. starting in 2016. He played in the 2016 Challenge Cup Final victory over the Warrington Wolves at Wembley Stadium. He played in the

2017 Challenge Cup Final The 2017 Challenge Cup Final was the 116th cup-deciding game of the rugby league 2017 Challenge Cup Season. It was held at Wembley Stadium in London on 26 August 2017, kick off 15:00. The final was contested by Hull F.C. and Wigan Warriors. The ...

victory over the Wigan Warriors at Wembley Stadium.

International career

New Zealand

Manu made his New Zealand national rugby league team debut in 2008. He was named in the Tongan and New Zealand training squads for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final b ...

. In October 2008 he was named in the final 24-man Kiwi squad and was part of the team that went on to win the tournament.

Tonga

In 2013 Sika, through his Tongan heritage, he made his début for Tonga in their Pacific Rugby League International clash with fierce Pacific rivals Samoa. Later in the year Sika represented Tonga in their unsuccessful

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013. It was the main event of the year's 2013 Festival of World ...

campaign. He played in all 3 of Tonga's matches, scoring two tries. He scored both of his tries in New Zealand's nail-biting 2 point defeat by Scotland (unfortunately the only defeat of their World Cup campaign which ultimately ended Tonga's hopes of a knock-out round spot). On 2 May 2015, Manu captained Tonga in their 2015 Polynesian Cup test-match against Pacific rivals Samoa. On 17 October 2015 Manu captained Tonga again this time in their Asia-Pacific Qualifier match against the Cook Islands for the

2017 Rugby League World Cup The 2017 Rugby League World Cup was the fifteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup tournament and took place in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 27 October and 2 December 2017. The tournament featured the national teams ...

. On 7 May 2016, Manu traveled down from Hull to Sydney to captain Tonga in the 2016 Polynesian Cup against Samoa, where he started in the second row in the 18-6 loss at

Parramatta Stadium Parramatta Stadium was a sports stadium in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, 23 kilometres west of Sydney's central business district. The stadium was the home ground of several western Sydney-based sports teams, at the time of closure t ...

. In 2018 he announced his retirement from international rugby league.

References

External links

Hull F.C. profileSL profile2017 RLWC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manu, Sika 1987 births Living people Junior Kiwis players Melbourne Storm players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand people of Tongan descent New Zealand rugby league players Penrith Panthers players People educated at Upper Hutt College Petone Panthers players Randwick Kingfishers players Rugby league second-rows Rugby league players from Lower Hutt Tonga national rugby league team captains Tonga national rugby league team players Upper Hutt Tigers players