Stacey Ili (born 11 May 1991 in New Zealand) is a

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player, who currently plays as a midfield back for in New Zealand's domestic National Provincial Championship competition and for the 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 previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

Early life

Ili was a student at

Onehunga High School Onehunga High School is a state co-educational secondary education in New Zealand, secondary school in the Auckland suburb of Onehunga, New Zealand. The school incorporates a business school, founded by Just Water International's creator Tony Fa ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

. While there he played rugby union for the school side. Ili also played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

for the school. Ili was involved with

from 2012 and played sevens for the side, but did not represent the senior XVs side before his move to Australia to join

Melbourne Rising The Melbourne Rising is an Australian rugby union team based in Melbourne that competes in the National Rugby Championship (NRC). The team represents the rugby community in Victoria and is organised and managed by Rugby Victoria with the ...

Professional rugby career

Melbourne Rising

Ili played for

, the

Melbourne Rebels The Melbourne Rebels is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They were the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia, until 2017 ...

' NRC side in the 2015 season. He made seven appearances in the nine-game regular season, starting all of them, and scored tries against

North Harbour Rays Sydney is an Australian rugby union team that competes in the National Rugby Championship (NRC). Formerly known as Sydney Rays, the team is one of two sides from New South Wales in the competition; the other being the NSW Country Eagles. ...

, Perth Spirit and

Sydney Stars The Sydney Stars is a former Australian rugby union football team that competed in the National Rugby Championship (NRC) in 2014 and 2015. The Stars team was established as a joint venture between the Sydney University and Balmain rugby clubs, ...

as the Rising finished third to qualify for the play-offs. Ili started the play-off semi-final against the UC Vikings and scored the game's opening try after 16 minutes, but was ultimately on the losing side with the Rising beaten 50–34.

Auckland

Ili returned to his native New Zealand for the 2016 season, joining

. He started on the wing for the team in their opening match away to

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

, where Auckland were beaten 43–3. In September 2016, it was announced that Ili had signed for Irish side Connacht, and would be joining the team within a week, meaning he would depart before the end of the season.

Connacht

Ili joined Connacht for the 2016–17 Pro12 season.

Personal life

Ili's younger brother, Shea, is a professional basketball player. Shea Ili plays as a point guard and has played internationally for

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

Super Rugby statistics

References

External links