Iakopo Mapu

His first Test for Samoa was played in the Basque country, against the United States.

Iakopo Mapu’s first Test for Samoa was against the United States, in San Sebastián. Two Pacific and North American sides met in the Basque country, and he came off the bench in it. That was 2018, and it tells you most of what there is to know about how the second tier of international rugby arranges its fixtures.

Number 8 at Stade Français, 1.82m and 104kg, and 28 years old.

Fale’ula, a village on the north coast of Upolu, is where he grew up, and Wesley College in Samoa is where he was schooled. A rugby scholarship took him to New Zealand to finish it, at Massey High School in Auckland, which is the standard route out for a Samoan forward with a future and almost the only one.

He was contracted to Moana Pasifika and played his club rugby with Kia Toa. On 21 November 2024 he went to England to sign for Northampton for the remainder of the 2024-25 season, and on 1 July 2025 he signed in Paris for the season after that.

He is a try-scoring number eight, which in a forward of 104kg means the carrying is what he is picked for rather than the lineout.

The Northampton spell is the part worth pausing on. Signing in November for the rest of a Premiership season is a cover deal, taken by a player who needs the shop window more than the security, and it worked: a Top 14 club came for him seven months later.

Three countries and four clubs in two years is an unsettled way to make a living. It is also, for a Samoan international without a Super Rugby contract to fall back on, the ordinary one.