# Pete Samu

Peter Samu (born 17 December 1991) is an Australian professional rugby union player who is currently a loose forward for the Union Bordeaux Begles in the French Top14 competition. He has represented Australia in international rugby. After several seasons playing in Australia and England, Samu gained his professional career breakthrough in New Zealand, firstly with Tasman in the Mitre 10 Cup and then the Crusaders in Super Rugby.

## Early life

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Samu attended Cranbourne Secondary College. He first made his way in rugby playing for Moorabbin Rugby Club in his juniors before moving interstate to Brisbane and playing a handful of games in the first grade for Sunnybank Rugby. Samu played minimal first grade rugby in Brisbane, due to Wallabies (at the time) Jake Shatz and Liam Gill.

## Professional career

In 2012, Samu moved to Sydney to play for Randwick where he played majority of his rugby in premier division for the Shute Shield. He played a strong season in 2012 and won the most valuable player of the year award for the Shute Shield competition. Samu also had two-year stint in England playing local club rugby for St. Ives from 2010. He later moved to New Zealand in 2014 and began playing for Waimea Old Boys in the Tasman club rugby competition.

### Tasman and Crusaders

Samu first made the Tasman squad for the 2014 ITM Cup and helped himself to 4 tries in 9 games as the Mako reached the competition's final before losing out to Taranaki. The following year, the men from Nelson reached the semi-finals of the 2015 ITM Cup with Samu once more playing 9 times while this time bagging 5 tries before scoring 3 times in 11 games in 2016 when the Makos were again defeated finalists, this time going down to Canterbury.
Samu played for the Crusaders Knights development team in 2015 and was named as their player of the year before being promoted to their senior squad ahead of the 2016 Super Rugby season. With competition for places tough among a star-studded Crusaders line-up which featured the likes of Kieran Read and Matt Todd, it was perhaps unsurprising that Samu only made 4 substitute appearances during his debut season. He was retained in the squad for 2017.

### Wallabies and Brumbies

On 29 May 2018, Samu joined the Brumbies for the 2019 Super Rugby season with the possibility of a Wallabies call-up.

### Union Bordeaux Begles

Samu signed for Union Bordeaux Begles ahead of the 2023 Top14 season. He scored 5 tries for UBB in his first season with the club.

## Statistics

    As of 25 December 2016
| Season | Team | Games | Starts | Sub | Mins | Tries | Cons | Pens | Drops | Points | Yel | Red |
| 2016 | Crusaders | 4 | 0 | 4 | 93 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | Crusaders | 15 | 7 | 8 | 622 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | Crusaders | 14 | 5 | 9 | 547 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 33 | 12 | 21 | 1262 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 0 | 0 |

### List of international test tries

As of 3 July 2022
| Try | Opposing team | Location | Venue | Competition | Date | Result | Score |
| 1 | England | Perth, Australia | Optus Stadium | 2022 England rugby union tour of Australia | 2 July 2022 | Win | 30 - 28 |