Nemani Nadolo

Club

Leicester Tigers

Position

Center

Nationality

Fiji

Date of birth

1988-01-31

Birthplace

Sigatoka, Fiji

Height

195 cm (6 ft 5 in)

Weight

137 kg (21 st 8 lb; 302 lb)

Nemani Nadolo (formerly Ratu Nasiganiyavi, born 31 January 1988) is a Fijian-Australian rugby union player. He currently plays for Leicester Tigers in Premiership Rugby, usually as a wing or centre and the Fiji national team.

He was the overall top try scorer of the 2014 Super Rugby season competition, scoring a try in both the semi-final and final. He is known for his speed and size, and occasionally standing in as a goal-kicker for conversions and penalties. He won 30 caps for Fiji between 2010 and 2019.

Family and early life
Ratu Nemani Driu Nasiganiyavi was born in Sigatoka, Fiji. At three months of age he moved with his family to Brisbane, Australia. His father, Isei Nasiganiyavi, played rugby for Queensland in the 1980s.

He changed his name to Nemani Nadolo later as an adult, adopting his mother's maiden name in 2009 instead of the surname of his father who had left the family home when he was young.

He attended Nudgee College, and was selected for the Queensland Schoolboys rugby team in 2005. He is the older brother of Chris Kuridrani and Inosi Nadolo, and a cousin of Tevita Kuridrani and Lote Tuqiri.

Rugby career
Early career
After featuring for Perth Spirit in the 2007 Australian Rugby Championship (as Ratu Siganiyavi), he headed east to play for Randwick in 2008. He hit the ground running for Randwick, scoring 13 tries in his first 7 matches. His club rugby season was punctuated by selection for the Australian Under 20 team for the 2008 IRB Junior World Championship, where he crossed 7 times in 5 matches to be the tournament's leading tryscorer.

Nasiganiyavi was one of the finds of the 2008 season, with his hard-running and try-scoring prowess earning the powerhouse wing a Super 14 contract with the Waratahs.

Nasiganiyavi's size, style of play and Pacific Islander background drew him comparisons to Jonah Lomu when he signed for the Waratahs in 2008. He is documented to have a sprint time under 11 seconds over 100 metres. He played his first match for the Junior Waratahs on the 2008 Development Tour of Fiji less than 200 metres from his mother's village in Nadi. After changing his name to Nemani Nadolo in November 2009, he signed to play for Manly in the Shute Shield for 2010.

Europe
Nadolo signed with French Top 14 team Bourgoin-Jallieu for the 2010–11 season, but transferred to England's Exeter Chiefs in January 2011. Nadolo's brief time at Exeter was fairly troublesome. He was registered at Exeter under his Australia