Martin Taupau (born 3 February 1990) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays for the Brisbane Broncos as and and has played for both Samoa and New Zealand at international level.
He previously played for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the Wests Tigers in the National Rugby League (NRL), and for the World All Stars at representative level.
Background
Taupau was born in Auckland, New Zealand. He is of Samoan descent. Taupau moved to Sydney, Australia as a 10-year-old.
He played junior rugby league for the Padstow Panthers and Greenacre Tigers. Taupau attended Endeavour Sports High School and represented the Australia Schoolboys team in 2008.
Playing career
2010
In Round 5, Taupau made his first grade debut against the New Zealand Warriors off the interchange bench in the Bulldogs 30-24 loss at ANZ Stadium, in what was his only appearance of the season. Taupau was selected in the Samoan train on squad and the Junior Kiwis, and captained the Junior Kiwis.
2011
Taupau played 3 first grade games in the 2011 NRL season. He spent most of the year playing in the NSW Cup, and was named in the New South Wales Residents.
2012
In Round 23 against the Brisbane Broncos, Taupau scored his first NRL career try in the 22-14 win at ANZ Stadium. He finished the season with 6 appearances, all victories.
2013
Taupau played as a starting prop for the first 7 rounds of the season in a period when James Graham was suspended. On 20 April, he made his international début for Samoa against Tonga in the Pacific Rugby League International at Penrith Stadium, playing off the interchange bench in Samoa's 36-4 loss. On 16 June, it was announced that the club had granted Taupau a release to join the Wests Tigers from the 2014 season on a 3-year contract. He finished the season with 11 appearances.
2014
In February, Taupau was selected in the Wests Tigers inaugural Auckland Nines squad. In Round 1 against the St George Illawarra Dragons, he made his debut for the Wests Tigers in the Tigers 44-24 loss at ANZ Stadium, scoring a try in the match. Taupau's good form for the Tigers lead to him being selected to debut for the New Zealand national rugby league team in the May 2014 Anzac Test at SFS. He debuted off the interchange bench in the Kiwis 30-18 loss. Taupau was one of just two players to play in every Wests Tigers game for the season as well as scoring 3 tries, and was the club's second best for metres gained with the ball.
At the end of the year, Taupau played in all four of the Kiwis games as they won the 2014 Rugby League Four Nations. In the final against Australia in the Kiwis 22-18 win, Taupau left the ground with a suspected neck injury, but had already made three tackle breaks, three offloads, and was described as "the toast of the team." The New Zealand Herald said, "Time and again Taupau threw himself into the Australian line to see would-be defenders reeling."
2015
Under new coach Jason Taylor, Taupau began the season playing as the team's starting lock.
On 3 May, Taupau was selected for New Zealand in the 2015 Anzac Test, playing off interchange bench and gained the most metres amongst the New Zealand pack and had the most offloads of any forward for either side in the Kiwis 26-12 win. After receiving a crusher tackle during the game, Taupau made a throat-slitting gesture towards Australian opponent Sam Thaiday. Australian player Corey Parker said, "that's not a good look for the game, gee whiz. If you were a young kid looking in the stands watching that, I don't know what you're going to think." Parker did admit, "I think it would be fair to say 12 months ago you might not have known too much about Marty Taupau, but certainly you do now."