Zeb Taia

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Zeb Taia
New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Height186 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight104 kg (16 st 5 lb)[1]
PositionSecond-row, Lock, Centre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2006–07 Parramatta Eels 6 2 0 0 8
2007–12 Newcastle Knights 101 12 0 0 48
2013–15 Catalans Dragons 77 36 0 0 144
2016–17 Gold Coast Titans 24 5 0 0 20
2017–20 St Helens 107 23 0 0 92
Total 315 78 0 0 312
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2010 New Zealand 1 0 0 0 0
2012–13 Cook Islands 4 0 0 0 0
2013
Exiles
 1 0 0 0 0
Source: [2][3]

Zeb Taia (born 11 October 1984) is a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a second-row forward for both New Zealand and the Cook Islands at international level.

He played for the

Exiles, and earlier in his career he played as a lock, centre and prop.[2]
He also played for Wynum Manly in the 2021 Intrust QLD Cup.

Background

Taia was born in

Penrhyn (Tongareva).[4]

Playing career

He played his junior football for the Enfield Federals and the

NRL debut for the Eels against the Penrith Panthers
.

In 2007, Taia was granted a release from his Eels contract and moved mid-season to the Newcastle Knights. In 2008, Taia established himself as a permanent first-grader with Newcastle.

In the first week of the finals series of 2011, Taia made a comeback from a career threatening neck injury in which he suffered four rounds into the season.

On 16 May 2012, Taia signed a 3-year deal with French Super League club, Catalans Dragons starting in 2013. Taia said about the move, "Whilst my wife and I are looking forward to experiencing life in another country, a beautiful one at that, I am forever indebted to the Knights. Not just for the time I have been here but the support they showed me, particularly last season during a potentially career ending injury."[6]

On 5 August 2015, Taia signed a 2-year contract with the Gold Coast Titans to return to the National Rugby League after three years in France, starting in 2016.[7]

On February 14, 2017, Taia signed for St. Helens in a swap deal taking Joe Greenwood to the

League Leaders Shield and the 2019 Super League Grand Final securing the club's 14th championship.[8][9]

He played in the

2019 Challenge Cup Final defeat by the Warrington Wolves at Wembley Stadium.[10]

He played in the 2019 Super League Grand Final victory over the Salford Red Devils at Old Trafford.[11][12][13]

He played in St Helens 8-4

Kingston Communications Stadium in Hull. It was his final game as a player as he announced his retirement following the game.[14]

Representative career

For the 2010 Anzac Test, Taia was selected to debut for the New Zealand national rugby league team at second-row forward in their loss against Australia.[15]

On 16 October 2010, Taia represented the Cook Islands against a NSW Country representative side.[16] In the match Taia captained the side. He made his official international debut for the Cook Islands in 2012 in a match against Lebanon.

Zeb captained 'the Kukis' in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup.

References

  1. ^ "Catalans Dragons Equipe Saison 2015". Catalans Dragons site officiel. Catalans Dragons S.A.S.P. 2015. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Archived from the original on 8 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  3. ^ "Love Rugby League". Archived from the original on 21 January 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  4. ^ Alderson, Andrew (15 August 2010). "League: Watch out for Taia if Kiwi coach calls". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  5. ^ [1] Archived 18 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ [2] Archived 7 September 2012 at archive.today
  7. ^ Titans.com.au (5 August 2015). "Taylor and Taia to join Titans | NRL". Zero Tackle. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  8. ^ "St Helens 23-6 Salford Red Devils: Super League Grand Final – as it happened". The Guardian.
  9. ^ "St Helens win 2019 Super League League Leaders' shield". Sky Sports.
  10. ^ "St Helens 4-18 Warrington RESULT: Challenge Cup Final as it happened from Wembley". Mirror. 24 August 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  11. ^ "St Helens give Justin Holbrook the perfect send-off with commanding Grand Final victory over Salford". Telegraph. 12 October 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
  12. ^ "St Helens 23-6 Salford Red Devils: Super League Grand Final – as it happened". The Guardian.
  13. ^ "St Helens win 2019 Super League League Leaders' shield". Sky Sports.
  14. ^ "Super League Grand Final: Wigan 4-8 St Helens". www.bbc.co.uk.
  15. ^ "Zeb Taia chases black jumper after sidestepping Blues". Newcastle Herald. 16 July 2009. Archived from the original on 11 October 2009. Retrieved 13 December 2010.
  16. ^ "From A to Zeb". Cook Islands News. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2020.

External links

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