Vaea Fifita

Wasps sign All Blacks forward Vaea Fifita

The 29-year-old lock or flanker has 11 caps and is moving to the Premiership from the New Zealand Rugby Union.

Tonga-born Fifita, who is 6ft 5ins (196cm) tall, has won the Super Rugby title with Hurricanes and has also played for the Wellington Lions.

"I am proud to be joining one of the most historic rugby clubs in the world on what promises to be a very exciting journey," Fifita said.

Head coach Lee Blackett said signing an experienced international like Fifita was "exciting".

All Blacks rally around Vaea Fifita after tragic death of his young brother in US

Fifita, 27, has travelled with the All Blacks to Perth for this weekend’s Test against the Wallabies, despite the loss of his brother Albert John Mapa, who drowned in the Provo River.

As Kaniva news reported last week, Mapa, who was also known as AJ, reportedly jumped off a pedestrian bridge into the water behind the dam.

Family and friends who were with him in the area told officials they could see Mapa “appeared to be in trouble,” a press release said.

Search and Rescue crews found his body more than three hours later.

Barrett and Fifita in doubt for third test

Both Barrett and Fifita suffered their concussions in last night's 26-13 win over France in Wellington.

Barrett's incident occurred in the 12th minute of the match when he collided in mid air with France fullback Ben Fall.

Fall was red carded for the incident because Barrett landed on his neck and head.

Coach Steve Hansen says both Barrett and Fifita will stay in Wellington tonight and will be monitored throughout the week.

Hansen said a decision will be made later in the week on whether they'll join the group in Dunedin ahead of Saturday's test.

Vaea Fifita to step up for ill Squire

Star wing Rieko Ioane is a better prospect to play than he was when they rolled into Paris on the Eurostar on Sunday, after he had been diagnosed with the squad's second (though unrelated) bout of the mumps.

Final decisions on both will be made over the next day or so, but don't be surprised if the raw but exciting Vaea Fifita is called up for the biggest match of his short international career at No 6 against France. The All Blacks almost always require starters to log two quality training sessions, and Squire was in no shape to do that in Paris on Tuesday.

Vaea Fifita back for Wellington

The All Blacks blindside flanker, who played against Argentina but was rested for the South Africa trip, has been given the all-clear to rejoin the Lions at Westpac Stadium.

He joins Brad Shields and fellow Hurricane Wes Goosen in returning to a powerful starting lineup.

Shields reclaims the captaincy after missing the past four weeks due to a knee ligament tweak suffered during Wellington's sole loss of the season against Tasman in Blenheim on September 10.

Fifita misses out as ABs named

Vaea Fifita will sit out the All Blacks' next match despite a breakout performance in their last test.

On Thursday morning the All Blacks named their team to face the Springboks on Auckland's North Shore this weekend with Liam Squire named at blindside flanker in the place of Fifita who started in the No 6 jersey against the Pumas in New Plymouth. 

Julian Savea gets a spell

Lions coach Chris Gibbes has made six changes to the starting team which beat Taranaki 42-26 on Saturday, for Thursday night's clash with Bay of Plenty in Rotorua. Wellington have three games in a short space of time, so managing resources is critical.

Beyond the changes to the starting side, there's four more in the reserves, including the selection of Filipo. The Petone outside back was sentenced to nine months' supervision for assaulting four people, including two women, in November last year and ordered to attend alcohol counselling and a course on living without violence.

Barrett and Fifita to make All Black debuts

The Hurricanes pair have been named in the reserves.

Fullback Ben Smith will captain the side for the first time as regular skipper Kieran Read is still recovering from injury.

The match will be a milestone for first five-eighth Beauden Barrett, who will run out in his 50th test, while midfielder Sonny Bill Williams returns in his first game since the 2015 Rugby World Cup Final at Twickenham.

Vaea Fifita escapes broken leg after three Kiwi Super Rugby players stretchered off at Brisbane Tens

Fifita was one of three Super Rugby players stretchered off the field at the Brisbane Tens, along with Chiefs Brad Weber and Mitchell Graham whose involvement for at least the early part of the Super tournament looks to be in severe doubt.

While Fifita's return to rugby is unclear, he at least escaped a broken leg after he fell awkwardly after being lifted at a lineout.

The Hurricanes confirmed on Twitter that Fifita's leg was not broken. "Vaea has ankle ligament damage that will be assessed further in coming days".