Pete Samu

Peter Samu (born 17 December 1991) is an Australian professional rugby union player who is currently a loose forward for the Brumbies in Super Rugby. He has represented Australia in international rugby. After several seasons playing in Australia and England, Samu gained his professional career breakthrough in New Zealand, firstly with Tasman in the Mitre 10 Cup and then the Crusaders in Super Rugby.[1][2][3]

Pete Samu

Date of birth	(1991-12-17) 17 December 1991
Place of birth	Melbourne, Australia
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	102 kg (16 st 1 lb; 225 lb)
School	Cranbourne Secondary College
Notable relative(s)	Lualua Vailoaloa (brother)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Flanker, Number 8 Current team Brumbies Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 2012–2013 Randwick 13 (35) Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 2014–2018 Tasman 40 (65) 2016–2018 Crusaders 29 (40) 2019–pres. Brumbies 17 (25) Correct as of 01 July 2019 National team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 2018–pres. Australia 7 (0) Correct as of 25 September 2018

Early life

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Samu first made his way in rugby playing for Moorabbin Rugby Club in his juniors before moving interstate to Brisbane and playing a handful of games in the first grade for Sunnybank Rugby. Samu played minimal first grade rugby in Brisbane, due to Wallabies (at the time) Jake Shatz and Liam Gill.

Rugby career

In 2012, Samu moved to Sydney to play for Randwick where he played majority of his rugby in premier division for the Shute Shield. He played a strong season in 2012 and won the most valuable player of the year award for the Shute Shield competition. Samu also had two-year stint in England playing local club rugby for St. Ives from 2010. He later moved to New Zealand in 2014 and began playing for Waimea Old Boys is the Tasman club rugby competition.[3]

Tasman and Crusaders

Samu first made the Tasman squad for the 2014 ITM Cup and helped himself to 4 tries in 9 games as the Mako reached the competition's final before losing out to Taranaki. The following year, the men from Nelson reached the semi-finals of the 2015 ITM Cup with Samu once more playing 9 times while this time bagging 5 tries before scoring 3 times in 11 games in 2016 when the Makos were again defeated finalists, this time going down to Canterbury.[4]

Samu played for the Crusaders Knights development team in 2015 and was named as their player of the year before being promoted to their senior squad ahead of the 2016 Super Rugby season.[5] With competition for places tough among a star-studded Crusaders line-up which featured the likes of Kieran Read and Matt Todd, it was perhaps unsurprising that Samu only made 4 substitute appearances during his debut season. He was retained in the squad for 2017.[3]

Wallabies and Brumbies

On 29 May 2018, Samu joined the Brumbies for the 2019 Super Rugby season with the possibility of a Wallabies call-up.[6][7]

Super Rugby statistics

As of 25 December 2016 [4]

Season	Team	Games	Starts	Sub	Mins	Tries	Cons	Pens	Drops	Points	Yel	Red
2016	Crusaders	4	0	4	93	1	0	0	0	5	0	0
2017	Crusaders	15	7	8	622	5	0	0	0	25	0	0
2018	Crusaders	14	5	9	547	2	0	0	0	10	0	0
Total		33	12	21	1262	8	0	0	0	40	0	0

References

1. "Peter Samu Tasman Player Profile". Makos Rugby. Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
2. "Crusaders 2017 Squad Guide" (PDF). All Blacks.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 July 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
3. "Pete Samu Crusaders Player Profile". Crusaders Rugby. Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
4. "Peter Samu itsrugby.co.uk Player Statistics". itsrugby.co.uk. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
5. "Crusaders sign Makos flanker Pete Samu". Makos Rugby. 21 September 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
6. "Australian-born Crusaders flanker Peter Samu signs with Brumbies, set for Wallabies call-up". Daily Telegraph. 29 May 2018.
7. "Rugby-Samu joins Brumbies ahead of mooted Wallabies berth". Reuters. 29 May 2018.