Tepai Moeroa

Tepai Moeroa
Moeroa playing for the Wentworthville Magpies in 2014.
Personal information
Born (1995-10-02) 2 October 1995
Cook Islands
Height 190 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Weight 111 kg (17 st 7 lb)
Playing information
Position Second-row, Lock
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2014– Parramatta Eels 50 4 0 0 16
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2015 Prime Minister's XIII 1 0 0 0 0
As of 17 July 2016
Source: [1]

Tepai Moeroa (born 2 October 1995) is a Cook Island–born Australian professional rugby footballer who currently plays rugby league for the Parramatta Eels of the National Rugby League. He plays at second-row and lock. He has been compared with Sonny Bill Williams, who is also a cross-code athlete.[2][3]

Background

Born in the Cook Islands, Moeroa moved to Sydney, New South Wales at a young age and played his junior rugby league for the Colyton Colts, St Clair Comets[4] and Seven Hills Kangaroos. He was educated at Newington College before being signed by the Penrith Panthers. After finishing with Penrith, Moeroa joined the Parramatta Eels. Moeroa played for the Eels' Harold Matthews Cup team in 2010 and 2011, the S. G. Ball In 2011, Moeroa played for the New South Wales Under 16s team and was selected for the Under 18s team in 2013 but had to withdraw because of rugby union commitments.[5] In 2012, Moeroa played for the Australian Schoolboys rugby union team, also playing for them in 2013 along with the Australian rugby sevens team. Moeroa received 9 caps over two years playing for Australian Schoolboys, the third highest amount of caps equal with Quade Cooper and Kurtley Beale.[6]

Moeroa played for the Parramatta Eels NYC team in 2013 and 2014.

Rugby league career

2014

In Round 18 of the 2014 NRL season, Moeroa made his NRL debut for the Parramatta Eels against the New Zealand Warriors playing off the interchange bench in the Eels 48–0 loss at Mt Smart Stadium.[7][8] In his next match in Round 19 against the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Moeroa scored his first NRL career try in the Eels' 12-32 loss at Parramatta Stadium.[9] On 24 July 2014, Moeroa re-signed with the Eels on a 3-year contract to the end of the 2017 season after Super Rugby clubs Waikato Chiefs and New South Wales Waratahs were trying to sign him to return to rugby union.[10][11] Moeroa finished off his debut year in the NRL with him playing in 9 matches and scoring 3 tries for the Eels in the 2014 NRL season. On 2 September 2014, Moeroa was named at second-row in the 2014 NYC Team of the Year.[12] In late September 2014, Moeroa was contacted by New Zealand Kiwis officials asking about his international intentions, wanting to include him in the Kiwis squad for the 2014 Four Nations, although Moeroa turned down the opportunity to pursue his dream of representing New South Wales in State of Origin and Australia.[13] On 18 December 2014, Moeroa was selected in the Emerging Blues Camp by Laurie Daley, identifying him as well as 21 others as potential future New South Wales State of Origin players.[14][15]

2015

On 31 January and 1 February, Moeroa played for the Eels in the 2015 NRL Auckland Nines.[16] On 2 May, Moeroa played for the Junior Kangaroos against Junior Kiwis,[17] starting at second-row, scoring a try and being named Man of the Match in the Kangaroos' 22-20 win at Cbus Super Stadium.[18] He finished off the 2015 season having played in 19 matches and scoring 1 try for the Eels.[19] On 26 September, he played for the Prime Minister's XIII against Papua New Guinea, playing at second-row in his team's 40-12 win at Port Moresby.[20][21][22]

2016

On 1 February, Moeroa was named in the Eels' 2016 NRL Auckland Nines squad.[23]

Shot put

Moeroa is a national age group shot put champion. He holds many state-age shot put records and is ranked third in Australia for under 20s.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Tepai Moeroa - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  2. ↑ "Rugby's 'next big thing' set for NRL debut". ESPN. 12 July 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  3. ↑ Adrian Proszenko (11 July 2014). "Waratahs, Chiefs chase Parramatta Eels debutant Tepai Moeroa". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  4. ↑ "How Parramatta Eels hung onto young gun Tepai Moeroa despite lure of rugby and Olympics". Dailytelegraph.com.au. 2014-08-29. Retrieved 2016-07-15.
  5. 1 2 "Waratahs, Chiefs chase Parramatta Eels debutant Tepai Moeroa". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  6. ↑ "Australia: Rugby's 'next big thing', Tepai Moeroa, set for NRL debut with Parramatta Eels | Live Rugby Article". ESPN Scrum. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  7. ↑ "NRL Late Mail: Round 18 - Eels". Parraeels.com.au. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  8. ↑ "New Zealand WArriors Have Beaten the Parramatta Eels 48-0". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  9. ↑ "Rabbitohs Have Beaten Eels 32-12". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  10. ↑ "Young Gun Re-Signs with the Eels - Eels". Parraeels.com.au. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  11. ↑ "Eels re-sign 'the next Hindmarsh'". NRL.com. 2014-07-24. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  12. ↑ "Holden Cup Team Of The Year Announced". Rugby League Week. 2014-09-02. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  13. ↑ Adrian Proszenko (2014-10-04). "NRL finally considers Churchill family's treasures". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  14. ↑ "Peats and Moeroa named in 2015 Emerging Blues camp - Eels". Parraeels.com.au. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  15. ↑ "NSW ANNOUNCE 2015 EMERGING BLUES SQUAD". Rugby League Week. 2014-12-19. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  16. ↑ "EELS NAME 2015 NINES SQUAD". Rugby League Week. 2015-01-26. Retrieved 2015-12-26.
  17. ↑ "Representative Round team lists". NRL.com. 2015-04-28. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  18. ↑ "Junior Roos hold on in thriller". NRL.com. 2015-05-02. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  19. ↑ "Custom Match List". Rugby League Project. 2015-11-30. Retrieved 2015-12-26.
  20. ↑ "Merrin to lead Prime Minister's XIII". NRL.com. 2015-09-15. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  21. ↑ "Moeroa confirmed in PM's XIII - Eels". Parraeels.com.au. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  22. ↑ Tom Decent. "Australian Prime Minister's XIII beat Papua New Guinea 40-12 in Port Moresby". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2015-12-26.
  23. ↑ "Eels name 2016 Nines squad". Rugby League Week. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
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