Vaea Fifita

Early career

Born and raised on the Tongan island of Vava'u, Fifita attended Tonga College on the larger island of Tongatapu and while there earned selection for the Tonga Schools side ahead of their tour to New Zealand. An impressive display against Auckland Grammar School brought him to the attention of the neighbouring Tamaki College who offered him a rugby scholarship.

After graduating high school, Fifita spent time with former All Black number eight Murray Mexted at his international rugby academy in Palmerston North. This opened the way for him to make his way further south to play club rugby for the Wellington Axemen, whom he joined in 2012. He scored an incredible 26 tries in debut season of Wellington club rugby and then in 2013 he helped the Wellington sevens side lift the national title for the first time since 2002.

Senior career

Fifita first played provincial rugby with Wellington during the 2013 ITM Cup, making a sole appearance in a 35–27 win over North Harbour. The Lions were in fine form in 2013, finishing top of the log and reaching the Premiership final before going down 29–13 to Canterbury, however 2014 would be a different story as they finished 7th and last in the Premiership table which saw them relegated down to the Championship for 2015. Fifita saw plenty of game time in a constantly changing Wellington side, scoring 2 tries in 9 games and then going on to score an impressive 6 tries in 10 games as the Lions failed to win promotion back to the Premiership at the first time of asking, finishing 2nd on the log behind Hawke's Bay before being defeated 26–25 by the same opposition in the playoff final.

2016 also proved to be a year of frustration for the men from New Zealand's capital as they once again finished 2nd in the Championship table, this time behind Otago before suffering a surprise 40–37 defeat at home to North Harbour in the playoff semi-finals. Playing largely as a loose forward, Fifita featured in 8 of Wellington's 11 matches during the year and contributed 2 tries.

Super Rugby

Although he was not initially named in the Hurricanes squad ahead of the 2015 Super Rugby season, Fifita was called up to provide injury cover midway through the campaign and debuted in a 29–5 victory over the Blues in Auckland. In total he played twice during 2015 and that in addition to his good form for his provincial side, Wellington, saw him sign a three-year deal with the Hurricanes prior to the 2016 season.

His first full season of Super Rugby would prove to be one to remember as he played a part in all 18 games and forged a strong second-row partnership with Michael Fatialofa that helped the Hurricanes lift the Super Rugby title after a 20–3 win over South African side, the Lions in the final. Fifita scored 3 tries during the year including 1 in the 41–0 thrashing of the Sharks in the quarter-finals.

Fifita competed at the Brisbane Global Tens with the Hurricanes but was injured and missed the first half of the season as a result.

International career

Fifita was called up to the All Blacks end-of-year tour in 2016 as a replacement for Luke Romano, after Romano left the tour due to a bereavement. Fifita was not capped on the tour.

Fifita was named in the team in 2017 for the British and Irish Lions series and test against Samoa in Auckland. Fifita's first cap for New Zealand was against Samoa where he replaced veteran Jerome Kaino off the bench. Fifita performed well on debut and scored a try following an offload from winger Israel Dagg.

Fifita was given his first test start against Argentina in the Rugby Championship. Fifita made a solid impact, scoring his second test try and getting fans, players, and the media raving about his performance. His try was a 40m solo try where he out ran a winger and the fullback.

Career honours

Hurricanes

Super Rugby statistics