Martin Taupau

Martin Taupau

Personal information
Nickname	Kapow
Born	(1990-02-03) 3 February 1990 Auckland, New Zealand
Height	190 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	112 kg (17 st 9 lb)
Playing information
Position	Prop, Lock
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2010–13	Canterbury Bulldogs	21	1	0	0	4
2014–15	Wests Tigers	45	7	0	0	28
2016–	Manly Warringah	0	0	0	0	0
	Total	66	8	0	0	32
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2013	Samoa	1	0	0	0	0
2014–15	New Zealand	9	0	0	0	0
As of 14 November 2015
Source:

Martin Taupau (born 3 February 1990) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in the National Rugby League. A Samoa and New Zealand national representative, he plays at prop and lock and previously played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Wests Tigers.

Background

Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Taupau is of Samoan descent. Taupau moved to Sydney, Australia as a 10-year-old and played junior rugby league for the Padstow Panthers and Greenacre Tigers. Taupau attended Endeavour Sports High School and represented the Australia Schoolboys team in 2008.

Playing career

2010

In Round 5 of the 2010 NRL season, Taupau made his first grade debut against the New Zealand Warriors off the interchange bench in the Bulldogs 30-24 loss at ANZ Stadium, in what was his only appearance of the season. Taupau was selected in the Samoan train on squad and the Junior Kiwis that year. Taupau captained the Junior Kiwis.

2011

Taupau finished the 2011 NRL season with him playing in 3 matches for the Bulldogs. Taupau spent most of the year playing in the NSW Cup, and was named in the New South Wales Residents.

2012

In Round 23 against the Brisbane Broncos, Taupau scored his first NRL career try in the 22-14 win at ANZ Stadium. He finished the season with him playing in 6 matches, all victories.

2013

In 2013, Taupau played as a starting prop for the first 7 rounds of the season in a period when James Graham was suspended. On 20 April 2013, Taupau made his international début for Samoa against Tonga in the Pacific Rugby League International at Penrith Stadium, playing off the interchange bench in Samoa's 36-4 loss. On 16 June 2013, it was announced that the club had granted Taupau a release to join the Wests Tigers from the 2014 season on a 3-year contract until the end of 2016. Taupau finished the season with him playing in 11 matches.

2014

In February 2014, Taupau was selected in the Wests Tigers inaugural 2014 Auckland Nines squad. In Round 1 against the St George Illawarra Dragons, Taupau made his debut for the Wests Tigers in the Tigers 44-24 loss at ANZ Stadium, scoring a try in the match. Taupau’s good form for the Tigers lead to him being selected to debut for the New Zealand Kiwis in the May 2014 Anzac Test at SFS. Taupau debuted off the interchange bench in the Kiwis 30-18 loss. Taupau was one of just two players to play in every Wests Tigers game for the season as well as scoring 3 tries, and was the club's second best for metres gained with the ball. At the end of the year, Taupau played in all four of the Kiwis games as they won the 2014 Rugby League Four Nations. In the final against Australia in the Kiwis 22-18 win at Westpac Stadium, Taupau left the ground with a suspected neck injury, but had already made three tackle breaks, three offloads, and was described as "the toast of the team." The New Zealand Herald said, "Time and again Taupau threw himself into the Australian line to see would-be defenders reeling."

2015

Under new coach Jason Taylor, Taupau began the 2015 season playing as the team's starting lock. On 3 May 2015, Taupau was selected for New Zealand in the 2015 ANZAC Test against Australia, playing off interchange bench and gained the most metres amongst the New Zealand pack and had the most offloads of any forward for either side in the Kiwis 26-12 win at Suncorp Stadium. After receiving a crusher tackle during the game, Taupau made a throat-slitting gesture towards Australian opponent Sam Thaiday. Australian player Corey Parker said, "that's not a good look for the game, gee whiz. If you were a young kid looking in the stands watching that, I don't know what you're going to think." Parker did admit, "I think it would be fair to say 12 months ago you might not have known too much about Marty Taupau, but certainly you do now." In Round 14 against the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the Tigers shock upset 34-6 win at ANZ Stadium, Taupau scored his first career double. He was said to be, "huge for the Tigers, scoring two brutally powerful tries while providing much-needed aggression and power through the middle of the field."

Finishing the season with 21 appearances, Taupau would have completed his 2nd consecutive season without missing a game were it not for a 3-match suspension for a high shot on James Maloney, for which he was "widely panned".

On 30 October, Taupau signed a 4-year contract with the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles starting in 2016, after being granted a release from the final year of his Tigers contract. The manner in which Taupau's signing was announced was a bungled affair. As Taupau was in England with the Kiwis on their tour of Great Britain, an e-mail that outlined the contract was supposed to be sent from a UK based solicitor to Manly CEO Joe Kelly. However, in an embarrassing foul up the e-mail was accidentally sent to the G-mail account of Canadian theatre critic James Kelly Nestruck who then announced Taupau's 4-year deal with the Sea Eagles on his Twitter page.

Taupau would go on to play in all 3 matches against England in the Kiwis 2-1 Baskerville Shield series loss. On 15 December, Taupau was named on the interchange for the World All Stars team to play the Indigenous All Stars on 16 February 2016.

External links

• 2015 Wests Tigers profile