Seta Tamanivalu’s career found a second life at the Crusaders
When Seta Tamanivalu finished the 2016 season, his career was at a crossroads.
His meteoric rise had seemingly already fizzled out. A quick stint in the All Blacks June series was not the beginning of an illustrious international career. He was left out for the remainder of the season, overlooked for most of the Rugby Championship.
The second test against Wales in Wellington saw Tamanivalu come off the bench early to replace an injured Malakai Fekitoa. Despite the All Blacks coming away with a 36-22, many feel he was outplayed by his opposite Jonathan Davies.
A power handoff that left Tamanivalu on the ground was the play that many will remember in a night he will want to forget. George Moala was called in as injury cover for the third test, forcing the dynamic midfielder out altogether. That would be the second to last time he pulled on an All Blacks jersey in a test match, with a third and final cap coming in late August against the Wallabies.
This was a puzzling situation to be in. It was only just that season that he had established himself as an attacking weapon in the Chiefs midfield, banking nine tries in often spectacular fashion, using raw power and speed to break through defenders reminiscent of his days at Auckland’s Saint Kentigern College.
Fast forward two years and the 26-year-old will leave New Zealand just when things couldn’t be better. The Fijian-born winger will leave the Crusaders having won two championships in two years, validating his decision to leave the Chiefs in search of something new.
It was at the end of that 2016 season when he came off contract at the Chiefs that the Crusaders showed interest in bringing in the then 24-year-old. Robertson labeled him as ‘exactly the kind of player we’ve been looking for’. A hesitant Tamanivalu made a one-year commitment to see what they could do.
“At the start, I just came down here to have a look what’s going on, that’s why I signed for a year first,” he explained.
The signing was announced in September before the end of year international season. He again missed initial selection for the All Blacks end of year tour, but he traveled to London to play with the Barbarians in some exhibition matches.
It was there where he joined forces with two future teammates – Jordan Taufua and Richie Mo’unga, who praised the culture of the team that would welcome him next year.
“I didn’t really know anyone [at the Crusaders], I played with a couple of the boys at the Baa Baas [Barbarians] and they talked about the environment down here,” he said.
It was expected by those outside the organisation that he would fill the vacated left wing spot after the departure of Nemani Nadolo, but he resumed his third Super Rugby season on the opposite side, filling the number 14 jersey with regular appearances.
He made just two appearances before the bye week in Round 7, before becoming a regular starter with 15 appearances, scoring 10 tries, as the Crusaders went on to capture their first title in nearly 10 years.
In the Crusaders system where wingers tend to flourish, moving to the wing had no limitations for him. The Crusaders found a way to get the best out of the power runner, finding space for him with clinical lead-up work.
Tamanivalu gave the Crusaders a physical presence that could finish when given one-on-one matchups on the outside and as a strong runner he could be used off his wing to carry down the 9-10 channel from set-piece.
His previous time at centre gave the team valuable midfield cover, and as he became more trusted, he became part of the ‘closing’ squad.
The Crusaders routinely use the bench to provide strategic impact, and one of their favourite changeups to close games out was to run a ‘power’ lineup for the final twenty minutes. This would involve second five Ryan Crotty being substituted for strike weapon Manasa Mataele, who would play on the wing with Tamanivalu moving into 13 and Jack Goodhue moving into 12.
The number of tries the Crusaders ran in the final stanzas with this lineup was quite remarkable, and Tamanivalu often had a hand in the mix.
As the Crusaders pile up championships, national selections are natural to follow. And at just 26-years-old, an All Blacks recall looked a real possibility. His decision to sign a three-year deal in France with Bordeaux to secure his family’s future will close that door, but he leaves having been a part of something special.
“What we had at the Chiefs was pretty different. It’s a blessing for me to come down here, two years and two trophies.”
He will be missed by this Crusaders side and the Crusaders will be missed by Tamanivalu.
“The brotherhood down here. We all love each other. After training we hang around with the boys, we’ve got an awesome family. The coaches are pretty big on the family as well, that’s what I like about it.”
His opening try in the final showed off his dominant physicality one last time, and he finishes his New Zealand career having found a second wind and a second title, securing his own place in the Crusaders legacy.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
26 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments