Date of birth | 16 October 1990 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Place of birth | Samoa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of death | 6 May 2022 | (aged 31)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of death | Montauban, France | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 188 cm (6 ft 2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 114 kg (17 st 13 lb; 251 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Kelly Meafua (16 October 1990 – 6 May 2022) [1] was a Samoan rugby union player. [2] His position of choice was flanker.
Meafua moved to Auckland when he was 14 but did not start playing rugby until he joined Otahuhu at 20 years old. [3] [4] He played for both the Auckland under–21 and Auckland Sevens before moving to Sydney to play for West Harbour in the Shute Shield. [3] Meafua then played for the Greater Sydney Rams and was part of the Waratahs extended training squad. [3] [5]
In 2013 Meafua played for the Samoa sevens team in the World Rugby Sevens Series before in 2015 he moved to France to play for Narbonne in the French Pro D2. [3] [5] He returned to France again in 2018, this time playing for Béziers in the Pro D2 before in 2020 he switched to Montauban. [3] [5]
Meafua was from the villages of Sala'ilua and Lalomauga and grew up in Samoa. [3]
On the 6 May 2022 while celebrating Montauban final home game and a win over Narbonne, Meafua died after jumping off the Pont-Vieux bridge into the river Tarn. [3] [5]