Tepai Moeroa

Tepai Moeroa (born 2 October 1995) is a Cook Island-born Australian rugby union footballer who plays for the New South Wales Waratahs in the Super Rugby competition. He is a former Cook Islands international in rugby league and previously played as a second-row and lock for the Parramatta Eels in the NRL.

Tepai Moeroa
Personal information
Born (1995-10-02) 2 October 1995
Avarua, Cook Islands
Height190 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Weight112 kg (17 st 9 lb)
Playing information
Rugby league
PositionSecond-row, Lock
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2014–19 Parramatta Eels 112 9 0 0 36
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2015 Prime Minister's XIII 1 0 0 0 0
2017 World All Stars 1 0 0 0 0
2019– Cook Islands 1 0 0 0 0
2019 Cook Islands 9s 3 0 0 0 0
Rugby union
PositionCentre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2020– NSW Waratahs 2 0 0 0 0
As of 20 October 2019
Source: [1]

Moeroa has played for the Prime Minister's XIII and the World All Stars.

Background

Moeroa was born in Avarua, Cook Islands. He moved to Sydney, New South Wales, Australia as a 5-year old.

He played his junior rugby league for the Colyton Colts, St Clair Comets[2] and Seven Hills Kangaroos. He was educated at Newington College where he played Rugby Union before being signed by the Penrith Panthers.

Playing career

After playing with the Penrith Panthers, Moeroa joined the Parramatta Eels. Moeroa played for the Eels' Harold Matthews Cup team in 2010 and the S. G. Ball Cup team in 2011. 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.[3] In 2012, Moeroa played for the Australian Schoolboys rugby union team in 2013, along with the Australian rugby sevens team. Moeroa received 9 caps over two years playing for Australian Schoolboys, the third highest number of caps equal with Quade Cooper and Kurtley Beale.[4] Moeroa played for the Parramatta Eels NYC team in 2013 and 2014. Moeroa has been compared with Sonny Bill Williams, who is also a cross-code athlete.[5][6]

Moeroa playing for the Wentworthville Magpies in 2014

2014

Before making his first grade debut, Moeroa was considered one of the future superstars of the NRL and was compared to players such as Sonny Bill Williams and Nathan Hindmarsh.[7]

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.[8][9] 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.[10] On 24 July 2014, Moeroa re-signed with Parramatta on a three-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.[11][12] 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 NYC team of the year.[13] 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 and the country of his birth Cook Islands.[14] 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.[15][16]

2015

On 31 January and 1 February, Moeroa played for the Eels in the 2015 NRL Auckland Nines.[17] On 2 May, Moeroa played for the Junior Kangaroos against Junior Kiwis,[18] starting at second-row, scoring a try and being named Man of the Match in the Kangaroos' 22-20 win at Cbus Super Stadium.[19] He finished off the 2015 season having played in 19 matches and scoring 1 try for the Eels.[20] 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.[21][22][23]

2016

On 1 February, Moeroa was named in the Eels' 2016 NRL Auckland Nines squad.[24] Moeroa finished the 2016 NRL season with him playing in 22 matches for the Eels.

2017

In February 2017, Moeroa was named in the Eels 2017 NRL Auckland Nines squad.[25] On 10 February 2017, Moeroa played in the 2017 All Stars match for the World All Stars against the Indigenous All Stars where he started at lock in the 34-8 loss at Hunter Stadium.[26] Moeroa was part of the parramatta side which finished fourth in the regular season but were eliminated in the finals series losing to Melbourne and North Queensland. On 19 December 2017, Moeroa was named in the emerging blues squad by coach Brad Fittler.[27]

2018

Moeroa started the 2018 season at Lock and played the first six games of the season until suffering a serious concussion in Round 6 and was ruled out for 2 weeks.[28] On 2 June 2018, Moeroa was placed on report after using an illegal shoulder charge against Newcastle player Chris Heighington in Parramatta's 30-4 defeat. On 4 June 2018, Moeroa was suspended for 3 matches after taking an early guilty plea.[29] In total, Moeroa made 19 appearances for Parramatta as the club endured a horror season finishing in last place on the table and claiming its 14th wooden spoon.[30][31]

2019

Moeroa started the 2019 NRL season in the front row but switched back to lock as Parramatta won their first 2 games against Penrith and Canterbury. In Round 6, Moeroa played from the bench as Parramatta defeated Wests Tigers 51-6 in the first NRL match to be played at the new Western Sydney Stadium.

In Round 10, Moeroa was taken from the field as the player suffered yet another concussion and was taken from the field in a 17-10 loss against North Queensland.[32][33]

Following Parramatta's 44-22 loss against Cronulla in Round 13, Moeroa was demoted to reserve grade by coach Brad Arthur after the club had only recorded one win in five matches.[34] Moeroa was recalled to the Parramatta side for their Round 15 match against Canberra which Parramatta won 22-16 after being down 16-0 earlier on in the game at TIO Stadium in Darwin.[35]

On 15 July, Moeroa announced that he had signed a two year deal to join Super Rugby club the NSW Waratahs starting in 2020.[36]

In the elimination final against Brisbane, Moeroa scored his first try of the season as Parramatta won the match 58-0 at the new Western Sydney Stadium. The victory was the biggest finals win in history, eclipsing Newtown's 55-7 victory over St George in 1944. The match was also Parramatta's biggest victory over Brisbane and Brisbane's worst ever loss since entering the competition in 1988.[37]

Moeroa played his final game for Parramatta the following week as the club were defeated by Melbourne 32-0 in the elimination semi final at AAMI Park.[38]

On 10 October, Moeroa was named in the Cook Islands squad for the 2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s.

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.[3]

References
  1. "Tepai Moeroa - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  2. "How Parramatta Eels hung onto young gun Tepai Moeroa despite lure of rugby and Olympics". Dailytelegraph.com.au. 29 August 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  3. "Waratahs, Chiefs chase Parramatta Eels debutant Tepai Moeroa". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  4. "Australia: Rugby's 'next big thing', Tepai Moeroa, set for NRL debut with Parramatta Eels | Live Rugby Article". ESPN Scrum. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  5. "Rugby's 'next big thing' set for NRL debut". ESPN. 12 July 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  6. Adrian Proszenko (11 July 2014). "Waratahs, Chiefs chase Parramatta Eels debutant Tepai Moeroa". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  7. "Rugby's 'next big thing' set for NRL debut". www.espn.co.uk.
  8. "NRL Late Mail: Round 18 - Eels". Parraeels.com.au. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  9. "New Zealand WArriors Have Beaten the Parramatta Eels 48-0". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  10. "Rabbitohs Have Beaten Eels 32-12". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  11. "Young Gun Re-Signs with the Eels - Eels". Parraeels.com.au. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  12. "Eels re-sign 'the next Hindmarsh'". NRL.com. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  13. "Holden Cup Team Of The Year Announced". Rugby League Week. 2 September 2014. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  14. Adrian Proszenko (4 October 2014). "NRL finally considers Churchill family's treasures". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  15. "Peats and Moeroa named in 2015 Emerging Blues camp - Eels". Parraeels.com.au. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  16. "NSW ANNOUNCE 2015 EMERGING BLUES SQUAD". Rugby League Week. 19 December 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  17. "EELS NAME 2015 NINES SQUAD". Rugby League Week. 26 January 2015. Archived from the original on 7 July 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  18. "Representative Round team lists". NRL.com. 28 April 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  19. "Junior Roos hold on in thriller". NRL.com. 2 May 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  20. "Custom Match List". Rugby League Project. 30 November 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  21. "Merrin to lead Prime Minister's XIII". NRL.com. 15 September 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  22. "Moeroa confirmed in PM's XIII - Eels". Parraeels.com.au. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  23. Tom Decent. "Australian Prime Minister's XIII beat Papua New Guinea 40-12 in Port Moresby". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  24. "Eels name 2016 Nines squad". Rugby League Week. Archived from the original on 4 February 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  25. "2017 Downer NRL Auckland Nines squads". nrl.com. 4 February 2017.
  26. Paul Crawley (10 February 2017). "Indigenous All Stars thump World All Stars 34-8 in Newcastle". dailytelegraph.com.au.
  27. https://www.nswrl.com.au/news/2017/12/19/2018-emerging-blues-squad-named/
  28. https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/eels-upset-over-arthur-locker-room-claims-20180503-p4zd1v.html
  29. https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/tepai-moeroa-jack-gosiewski-cop-suspensions-for-ugly-round-13-shoulder-charges/news-story/a892a98595ea1dd143f34d7910d23659
  30. https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/teams/eels/parramatta-eels-season-2018-review-peter-sterlings-biggest-fear-after-horror-campaign/news-story/14f79c1c637fa8d03bbfa6d6b63b55f1
  31. http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/matches/Custom/Ny0xNzE3LTQtLS0tLS0yMDg2NC0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0=
  32. "Eels vs Wests Tigers - NRL match centre". Wide World of Sports. 28 May 2019.
  33. "NRL Round 12 teams analysis: Brad Arthur drops four players, while Rabbitohs, Panthers forced to dig deep". www.foxsports.com.au.
  34. "NRL Team Analysis: Team news, injury updates and suspensions ahead of Round 14". Fox Sports.
  35. "Parramatta Eels slip through Canberra Raiders' grasp". Canberra Times.
  36. "Moeroa: rugby switch was now or never". Northern Daily Leader.
  37. "Parramatta Eels eliminate Brisbane Broncos from the NRL Finals with a thumping 58-0 win". ABC.
  38. "Melbourne Storm crush Parramatta 32-0 in their semi-final to set up prelim against the Roosters". ABC.
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