Steve Fualau (born 3 August 1984) is a Samoan

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 who currently plays as a hooker for the

Melbourne Rebels The Melbourne Rebels were an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria that competed in the Super Rugby competition. The Rebels made their debut in SANZAAR, SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. T ...

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 ...

Career

Fualau has had something of a journeyman career, starting out in

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with where he earned 27 caps over the course of 4 years and was also part of the wider training group in 2008. He shifted north to join ahead of the

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, however his stay was not a happy one and he left without making any senior appearances. A shift across the Tasman followed in 2013 and he played Club Rugby for Southern Districts in the

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Shute Shield The Shute Shield, currently known as the Charter Hall Shute Shield, is a semi-professional rugby union competition in Sydney, Australia. It is the premier club competition in New South Wales. The Shute Shield is awarded to the winning team fro ...

. Fualau was not initially named in either the regular squad or extended playing squad for the

2014 Super Rugby season The 2014 Super Rugby season is the fourth season of the 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. For sponsorship reasons, this competition is known as Asteron Life Super Rugby ...

. He was however brought in to little fanfare as an experienced hand to help out the Melbourne franchise's other hookers, Pat Leafa,

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and Tom Sexton who between them boasted only 7 super rugby caps prior to the start of the season. Fualau made his super rugby debut at the age of 29 as a substitute in the Rebels opening game of the season against the on 28 February 2014. He replaced Pat Leafa in the 74th minute as his side recorded a 35-14 victory.

International

Fualau was a member of the Manu Samoa side which won the

2012 IRB Pacific Nations Cup The 2012 Pacific Nations Cup rugby union tournament was held between the four national sides on the Pacific Rim: Fiji, Japan, Samoa and Tonga. Japan were the reigning champion after they defeated Fiji in the 2011 competition at Churchill Park, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fualau, Steve 1984 births Living people Samoan rugby union players 21st-century Samoan sportsmen Samoa international rugby union players Rugby union hookers Canterbury rugby union players Auckland rugby union players Melbourne Rebels players Samoan expatriate rugby union players in Australia Samoan expatriate rugby union players in France AS Béziers Hérault players