Tumua Manu

Tumua Manu was called Potoae Sasagi for the first twenty-one years of his life. When he left Samoa for New Zealand to try to make a career, he changed it on his uncle’s advice, taking his own middle name and his grandfather’s name.

He plays midfield or wing for Pau, is 1.83m and 97kg, and is 33.

He grew up at Afega, one of eight children, and played fly-half at school. Samoa used him at under-18 and under-20 level across two junior world championships, moving him between fly-half, centre and full-back.

The move to Auckland was hard: a new language, a new culture, and then a serious knee injury in a sevens match at the end of 2015 that cost him a year. A return in 2017 with a club side brought a provincial contract by August.

What followed was fast. A Super Rugby debut for the Blues in April 2018 with a try off the bench, then a provincial season at second centre in which he scored seven tries in twelve matches and Auckland won their first title since 2007, with Manu scoring in the final.

The Chiefs took him for 2019 and used him in sixteen of seventeen matches. Quinn Tupaea’s emergence cut that to four the following year.

Changing continents at 21 with no professional record, a year lost to a knee, and a first Super Rugby contract at 25 is a slower start than almost anyone else in this squad had. Six seasons in the French top flight have followed.

He signed for Pau in 2020, arrived that December once the provincial season had finished, and was a first-choice second centre within weeks. Six seasons in the Top 14 and a Samoa career built on the far side of a name change.