Timoci Matanavou (born 8 July 1984 in

Lautoka Lautoka (, ) is the second largest List of cities and towns in Fiji#List, metropolitan area in Fiji. It is on the west coast of the island of Viti Levu, in the Ba Province of the Western Division, Fiji, Western Division. Lying in the heart of ...

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

) is a

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. He plays as a

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

. He plays for

Stade Toulousain Stade Toulousain () (), also referred to as Toulouse, is a professional rugby union club based in Toulouse, France. They compete in the Top 14, France's top division of rugby, and the European Rugby Champions Cup. Toulouse is the most successfu ...

in the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

competition.

International

Matanavou attracted the attention of Fiji Rugby Sevens team selectors with a strong performance in a local sevens tournament in 2008. He was included into the Fiji's Sevens team and he made his debut at the

Hong Kong Sevens The Hong Kong Sevens ( zh, t=香港國際七人欖球賽, link=no) is a rugby sevens tournament held annually in Hong Kong on a weekend in late March or early April. Considered the premier tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Series competiti ...

in the

2007–08 IRB Sevens World Series The 2007–08 IRB Sevens World Series was the ninth of an annual IRB Sevens World Series of rugby sevens tournaments for full national sides run by the International Rugby Board since 1999–2000. The defending series champions, New Zea ...

. Matanavou played for the Fiji national team (15s) during the November 2012 tests, and he scored a try in a friendly between Fiji and GloucesterRTÉ Sport, Fiji pipped by Gloucester in Kingsholm, Nov. 14, 2012, http://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/2012/1114/345657-fiji-pipped-by-gloucester-in-kingsholm/ He made his official test debut the following week in a match between Fiji and Ireland XV when he entered as a substitute.

Club

Matanavou's performance for Fiji saw him get picked by

Mont-de-Marsan Mont-de-Marsan (; Gascon dialect, Occitan: ''Lo Mont de Marçan'') is a communes of France, commune and capital of the Landes (department), Landes Departments of France, department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. Population Milit ...

, a

team in France for the

2008–09 Top 14 season The 2008–09 Top 14 Competition was a French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). It ran from late August 2008 through the final at Stade de France on June 6, 2009, in which Perpignan lifted the ...

. In August 2008, he made his debut on the right wing against

US Montauban US Montauban () is a French rugby union club that currently competes in Pro D2, the second level of the country's professional league system. They have also competed at the top level, Top 14, in the past, most recently between 2007 and 2010. The ...

. He scored his first try in February 2009, against

Bayonne Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the France–Spain border, Spanish border. It is a communes of France, commune and one of two subprefectures in France, subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments of France, departm ...

. He scored just three tries that season and Mont-de-Marsan was demoted to

Pro D2 The Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was introduced in 2000. It ...

competition for finishing last. The following

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

in the ProD2, he managed 9 tries. The following year, in the

2010–11 Rugby Pro D2 season The 2010–11 Rugby Pro D2 was the season of the second-level French rugby union club competition, behind the Top 14, for the 2010–11 season. It runs alongside the 2010–11 Top 14 competition; both competitions are operated by the Ligue Natio ...

, he finished as the overall top try scorer with 19 tries in 28 appearances. His performance impressed Guy Noves, the Stade Toulouse coach who included the winger in his team for the 2011–12 Top 14 season. In the 2011-12 Top 14 season he finished tied for second in try scoring with 10 tries scored. He was the leading try scorer in the

2011–12 Heineken Cup The 2011–12 Heineken Cup was the 17th season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. The final was held at Twickenham on Saturday, 19 May 2012, kicking off at ...

with 8 tries. ST vs Harlequins - Matanavu - Crop

Personal

Matanavou is the first cousin of

Racing Metro 92 Racing 92 () is a French professional rugby union club based in the Hauts-de-Seine department, Paris' western inner Banlieue, suburbs that competes in Top 14. The club plays its home matches at the 30,681-capacity Stadium#Types, domed stadium Pa ...

winger, Sireli Bobo. He is married to Fane Raibevu Matanavou and has two kids Pierre Yves and Melissa Matanavou

References

External links

Fiji Rugby profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matanavou, Timoci 1984 births Living people Rugby union wings Fijian rugby union players Stade Toulousain players Rugby union players from Lautoka Fijian expatriate rugby union players in France Fiji international rugby sevens players I-Taukei Fijian people 21st-century Fijian sportsmen