Taleni Seu (born 26 December 1993) is a professional

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 plays as a

flanker Flanker may refer to: * Flanker (perfume), a newly created perfume sharing attributes of an existing one * Flanker (rugby union), a position in rugby union (not found in rugby league) * ''Su-27 Flanker'' (video game), a 1996 computer game modelin ...

for

Japan Rugby League One Japan Rugby League One (formerly the Top League) is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the ...

club Toyota Shuttles. Born in New Zealand, he represents

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 ...

at international level after qualifying on ancestry grounds.

Early life

Born in Auckland and raised in

Māngere Māngere () or Mangere is one of the largest suburbs in Auckland, in northern New Zealand. It is located on mainly flat land on the northeastern shore of the Manukau Harbour, to the northwest of Manukau City Centre and 15 kilometres south ...

, Seu attended school 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 ...

in the city's suburbs where he played first XV rugby as well as playing for the school's basketball team. After graduating from high school, he joined the Auckland academy and went on to play for them at under-18, under-19 and 'B' level while playing his club rugby for Grammar TEC.

Club career

Despite originally not being named in the Auckland squad for the

2015 ITM Cup Fifteen or 15 may refer to: * 15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak albu ...

, Seu was called up as injury cover and managed to force his way into the team over the course the season. He made 8 appearances and scored 2 tries in his side's run to the Premiership final where they narrowly lost to . A full squad member in 2016, he made a further 7

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in ...

appearances what turned out to be a disappointing campaign overall for Auckland, which ended up with them finishing outside of the play-off places, in 5th position. It was announced in April 2019 that Taleni will be joining Waikato in the Mitre 10 Cup in the 2019 season. An impressive debut season in provincial rugby was enough to earn Seu a Super Rugby contract with the Hamilton-based for the

2016 Super Rugby season The 2016 Super Rugby season was the 21st season of Super Rugby and the first season featuring an expanded 18-team format. It was also the first season that teams outside Australia, New Zealand and South Africa featured, with the Jaguares from Ar ...

. He enjoyed plenty of game time in his first year in Hamilton, playing in all 17 of the Chiefs games and scoring 2 tries as they reached the competition's semi-finals before going down 25-9 to the . He was retained in the squad for

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Career statistics

Club summary

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Seu, Taleni 1993 births Living people New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union locks Rugby union flankers Auckland rugby union players Rugby union players from Auckland Chiefs (rugby union) players New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand people of Niuean descent People educated at Onehunga High School People from Māngere Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi players Samoan rugby union players Samoa international rugby union players New South Wales Waratahs players 2023 Rugby World Cup players Expatriate rugby union players in Japan New Zealand expatriate rugby union players