Manu Vatuvei

Manu Vatuvei

Player information
birthday	March 4th 1986
place of birth	Auckland , New Zealand
size	1.91 m
Nickname	The Beast
society
society	New Zealand Warriors
position	Outer three-quarters
Clubs as active
Years	society	Games (points)
2004-	New Zealand Warriors	146 (584)
National team
Years	National team	Games (points)
2005- 2010-	New Zealand NRL All Stars	29 (88) 3 (4)
As of October 19, 2015

Manu Vatuvei (born March 4, 1986 in Auckland ) is a New Zealand rugby league player. He plays in the NRL for the New Zealand Warriors . With the New Zealand national team , he won the Rugby League World Cup in 2008 , the Tri Nations in 2005 and the successor Four Nations in 2010 and 2014 .

Start of career

Vatuvei grew up in Ōtara , a suburb of Auckland, and attended Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate. He initially played rugby for the Otara Scorpions and the Otahuhu Leopards in the Auckland Rugby League before making his debut for the Otahuhu Ellerslie Leopards in the Bartercard Cup . At the age of 16 he became part of the "development squad" of the New Zealand Warriors .

Professional career

In 2004 Vatuvei made his debut for the Warriors in Round 11 against the Sydney Roosters . He played a total of five games in his first year.

In 2005 he put his first try against the South Sydney Rabbitohs in round 4 . In total, he put nine attempts in 12 games in the 2005 season. After the end of the season he took part in the Tri Nations with New Zealand . His first game was against Australia on October 16 . He took part in all five games of the tournament and made three attempts, two of them in a 24-0 final win over Australia. This year he received the Rookie of the Year Award from the RLIF , the rugby league world association.

In 2006 he put 10 attempts in 18 games, which made him the top try scorer of the Warriors, and took part in the Tri Nations again with New Zealand. At the Tri Nations he put two attempts in five games and made it with New Zealand again in the final, in which they lost in extra time 12:16 to Australia.

In 2007 Vatuvei took part for the first time with New Zealand in the traditional ANZAC test against Australia, in which he put an attempt. For the Warriors he put 10 attempts in 23 games, which made him the top try scorer of the Warriors together with Jerome Ropati and Michael Witt .

2008 was by far the most successful year for Vatuveis. Although he broke his leg in Round 7 against the Gold Coast Titans , he recovered quickly and would play a major role in the Warriors' playoff qualification. In the final round, the Warriors played against the Parramatta Eels and needed a win to qualify for the elimination playoff. The last encounter between the Warriors and the Eels was in round 11, when they lost 6:30 because of Vatuvei's very bad kicks. This time, however, Vatuvei kicked excellent and scored a hat trick, whereby the Warriors won 28: 6 and moved into the playoffs. There they beat the Melbourne Storm 18:15 in Olympic Park , in which the Storm had only lost two games during the regular season. He also played a major role in this game, as the Warriors were trailing two minutes before the end of 14:15 when Vatuvei broke through the defense, ran 40 meters and passed the ball to Michael Witt, who sprinted the remaining 20 meters and made the game-winning attempt . In the 30:13 quarter-final win against the Sydney Roosters, Vatuvei tried again before the Warriors failed in the semifinals with 6:32 to the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles . In total, he had put 16 attempts in 17 games, making him the top try scorer of the Warriors. After the end of the season he took part in the Rugby League World Cup with New Zealand . There he set a new record when he made four attempts in the group stage against England . He took part in all five games and won with New Zealand in the final 34:20 against Australia. He was voted Winger of the Year by the RLIF.

In 2009 he was again the top try scorer of the Warriors with 13 attempts in 19 games and again took part in the ANZAC test against Australia with New Zealand, in which he put an attempt.

In 2010 he took part in the first NRL All-Stars Game and completed his 100th NRL game in round 13. On August 24, he extended his contract with the Warriors until 2013. In 2010 he put 20 attempts in 19 games, making him the Warriors' top try scorer for the fourth time in a row. In the elimination playoff against the Gold Coast Titans, he also made his 78th attempt for the Warriors, overtaking Stacey Jones as the Warriors' top try scorer. After the end of the season he took part in the Four Nations with New Zealand, but retired after the opening game against England due to a broken arm.

In 2011, with 12 attempts in 19 games, he was the top try scorer of the Warriors for the fifth time in a row, who made it to the NRL Grand Final this year, where they lost to the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. He did not take part in the Four Nations in 2011 because he had failed medical tests.

In 2012 he took part in the All-Stars Game for the second time, this time with a try and again took part in the ANZAC test. Since Simon Mannering , the actual captain of the Warriors, was injured, he was captain of the Warriors for several games. In round 23, he made his 100th attempt for Warriors against the North Queensland Cowboys , making him the first player to do that. In the next round he completed his 150th NRL game. With 12 attempts in 20 games, he was again the top try scorer of the Warriors, but this time he had to share the title with Shaun Johnson and Konrad Hurrell .

On May 8, 2013, Vatuvei extended his contract with the Warriors until 2015. He was with 16 attempts in 19 games for the seventh time in a row top try scorer and took part in the Rugby League World Cup for the second time after the end of the season. In New Zealand's first game against Samoa , he put a hat trick, a total of four attempts in four games during the World Cup. He made it to the final again with New Zealand, where Australia had to admit defeat 2:34.

In 2014 he made 17 attempts in 23 games, which made him the top try scorer of the Warriors again and after the end of the season he took part in the Four Nations for the third time with New Zealand. There he put three attempts in three games, two of them in the final, which New Zealand won 22:18 against Australia. With the last attempt he replaced Nigel Vagana as top try scorer of the New Zealand national team.

In 2015 Vatuvei took part with the Warriors in the NRL Auckland Nines , and played for the third time for the NRL All Stars in the All-Stars Game. He again took part in the ANZAC test, in which he put a try and New Zealand won 26:12, which they had not succeeded since 1998. In round 6 he completed his 200th NRL game in which he put a try. On lap 22, he suffered a shoulder injury, causing him to be out for the rest of the season. Even so, he had put 11 tries in 16 games, making him the first NRL player to put at least 10 tries in 10 consecutive seasons.

Web links

Commons : Manu Vatuvei  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Player profile for the New Zealand Warriors
• Statistics on rugbyleagueproject.org

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/3703320/The-Beast-Manu-Vatuvei-on-NFL-radar
2. ↑ http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10634585&ref=rss
3. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2005/nov/27/rugbyleague.trinations2005
4. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2006/nov/27/rugbyleague.sport
5. ↑ http://leagueunlimited.com/news/australia-win-anzac-test-in-late-blitz#7xfWcQr62Vjw91AG.97
6. ↑ http://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/warriors-upset-storm-in-thriller/story-e6frf3sc-1111117480431
7. ↑ http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl/australia-beats-new-zealand-38-10-in-anzac-test-in-brisbane/story-e6frep5x-1225710449082
8. ↑ http://www.smh.com.au//breaking-news-sport/vatuvei-resigns-with-warriors-20100824-13oov.html
9. ↑ http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/the-lowdown-warriors-v-panthers/story-e6frg6n6-1226453450261
10. ↑ http://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/warriors-re-sign-in-demand-winger-manu-vatuvei-for-further-two-years-tie-him-to-club -until-2015 / story-fn2mcuj6-1226637526945
11. ↑ http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-match-report/wests-tigers-overpowered-by-new-zealand-warriors-milestone-man-manu-vatuvei-20150411-1mj50m.html
12. ↑ http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/71256756/warriors-wing-manu-vatuvei-out-for-five-months-will-miss-kiwis-tour-to-england
13. ↑ http://www.nrl.com/vatuvei-credits-teammates-for-try-record/tabid/10874/newsid/87022/default.aspx ( Memento of the original from June 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: Der Archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.