Ioane Fitu "John" Afoa is a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 professional Rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 player and plays prop and hooker. Afoa currently plays for Ulster

Ulster Rugby

Ulster Rugby, usually referred to simply as Ulster, is an Irish professional rugby union team based in Belfast, representing the Irish province of Ulster, that competes in the RaboDirect Pro12 and also competes in the Heineken Cup...

 after signing a two-and-a-half year deal after the 2011 Rugby World Cup

2011 Rugby World Cup

The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Africa at a meeting in Dublin on 17 November 2005...

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Representative Rugby

Afoa has moved through a number of international representative sides. In 1999 he made the New Zealand U16 team, the youngest national representative team. Through 2000 and 2001 he played in the more senior New Zealand Schools' side. Moving steadily through the age grades, he was a member of the NZ U19 teams of 2002 and 2003. 2003 also saw Afoa selected for the New Zealand U21 World Cup team. The New Zealanders won the tournament and Afoa was one of four kiwis named in the IRB

International Rugby Board

The International Rugby Board is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board by the unions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England refused to join until 1890. The International Rugby Football Board changed its name to the...

's team of the tournament.

Provincial Rugby

Afoa currently plays for Ulster

Ulster

Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...

 in the RaboDirect Pro 12

Celtic League (rugby union)

The Celtic League is an annual rugby union competition involving professional sides from Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....

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Super 14

Afoa played for the Blues and made his debut in 2004 against the Brumbies.

All Blacks

In 2005 Afoa was selected for the All Blacks tri-nations squad. Despite this he never took the field in that competition and didn't earn his first test cap until the end-of-year tour. In November 2005 he finally became the 1062nd All Black when he started against Ireland at Lansdowne Road.

In 2010, Afoa was experimented to be used at hooker. The same year against Wales, Afoa scored his first test try showing some great running for a Prop for a 30m Try.

Trivia

Afoa was a student at Auckland's St. Kentigern College, where he played first XV rugby alongside fellow All Blacks Joe Rokocoko

Joe Rokocoko

Josevata Taliga "Joe" Rokocoko is a professional New Zealand rugby union player. Rokocoko is known for his speed and strength which has accounted for his prolific try strike rate...

 and Jerome Kaino

Jerome Kaino

Jerome Kaino is a professional New Zealand Rugby union player. In 2004, he was named IRB International Under-21 player of the year.-Early life:...

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External links

• Blues profile