Piri Weepu facts for kids
Weepu post match for Oyonnax, August 2015
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| Full name | Piri Awahou Tihou Weepu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 7 September 1983 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Lower Hutt, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 178 cm (5 ft 10 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 96 kg (212 lb; 15 st 2 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Te Aute College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notable relative(s) | Billy Weepu (brother) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Piri Awahou Tihou Weepu, born on September 7, 1983, is a famous retired New Zealand rugby union player. He last played for Wairarapa Bush. Piri usually played as a half-back. Sometimes, he also played as a first five-eighth.
From 2004 to 2013, he played for the All Blacks, New Zealand's national team. His first game for the All Blacks was against Wales in 2004. In 2005, he rejoined the All Blacks for a game against South Africa. He played for the Hurricanes and Blues in Super Rugby. He also played for Wellington and Auckland in the Mitre 10 Cup. Piri also had short times playing for clubs in Europe. In October 2017, Weepu announced he was retiring from rugby.
Contents
Piri's Early Life and Rugby Start
Piri Weepu is of Māori and Niuean background. He grew up in Wainuiomata, New Zealand. He went to Te Aute College and was the Head Boy there in 2001.
After school, he played rugby for Hutt Old Boys Marist. Later, he joined the Wainuiomata RFC. He stayed connected with this club throughout his professional career.
Piri's Rugby Career in New Zealand
Playing for Clubs in New Zealand
During the 2006 Super 14 final, Piri Weepu was knocked out. There was a very thick fog during the game. Because of the fog, the team doctors could not see that he had been unconscious.
Weepu kept playing in the game. He later missed a tackle, which led to the other team scoring the winning try. Weepu later said he could not remember anything from that game.
Playing for the All Blacks
Piri Weepu was not chosen for the 2007 Rugby World Cup team. Another player, Andrew Ellis, was picked instead.
During the 2011 Rugby World Cup, Weepu played in a different position. In the last pool game against Canada, he came on as a substitute. He played as a fullback instead of his usual half-back role.
There was a lot of pressure on the All Blacks to win the World Cup. They had not won it since 1987. It looked like 2011 might be New Zealand's year. However, the All Blacks' key player, Dan Carter, got a serious injury. This injury meant he could not play for the rest of the season.
This news caused a lot of talk in the media. The chances of the All Blacks winning seemed to go down. In the quarter-final match against Argentina, Weepu took over Carter's job of kicking for points. He successfully kicked seven penalties. He only missed one conversion.
Weepu was named the Man of the Match for his great performance. He helped New Zealand win the game. This earned him nicknames like "Mr Fixit" and "saviour." In the final against France, he missed two penalties and one conversion. However, New Zealand still won the game. This was thanks to a try by Tony Woodcock and a penalty kick by Stephen Donald.
In June 2013, Weepu was not chosen for the All Blacks team. He was told he needed to improve his speed and defense. He was later named in the squad for a tour to Argentina. But he did not get much playing time during that tour.
Leading the Haka for the All Blacks
Piri Weepu was a very important part of the All Blacks when they performed the haka. The haka is a traditional Māori dance performed before each game.
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He led the haka in 51 of the 71 test matches he played. This happened between November 12, 2005, and June 22, 2013. This is the most times any player has led the haka since the "Kapa o Pango" version was introduced in 2005. He led the "Ka Mate" haka 26 times. He also led the newer "Kapa o Pango" haka 25 times.
Weepu was the third All Black player to lead the "Kapa o Pango" haka. He first led it on July 22, 2006, against the Springboks.
Piri's Rugby Career in Europe
Playing in England
In July 2014, Weepu signed to join London Welsh. He left the Auckland Blues at the end of the 2014 Super Rugby season.
On February 27, 2015, it was announced that Weepu had left London Welsh early. He then joined another English team, Wasps, for a short time. This deal lasted until the end of the 2014–15 season.
Playing in France
On February 23, 2015, it was announced that Weepu would join Top 14 team Oyonnax. He signed a two-year deal starting from the 2015–16 season. On January 15, 2016, Oyonnax announced that Weepu's contract was ended right away. They did not give a reason for this decision.
Instead, on November 28, 2016, Weepu signed with Pro D2 club RC Narbonne. He joined them during the 2016–17 season.
TV Presenting and Personal Life
TV Presenting Career
Since 2018, Piri Weepu has hosted a TV show called Piri's Tiki Tour. This show is a documentary series. You can watch it on Whakaata Māori and YouTube.
Personal Life and Health
Piri Weepu is the brother of Billy Weepu, who was also a professional rugby player. Piri shared in 2020 that he still lives in Wainuiomata, Lower Hutt.
He also shared that he had a stroke in 2014 while playing for London Welsh. Scans showed blood clots in his brain. This affected his ability to speak clearly for a time. He also has no cartilage in either of his knees. Both Piri and his brother Billy can speak the Māori language very well.
Match Fit Show
In 2020 and 2021/22, Piri Weepu was on two seasons of a show called Match Fit. When he started season one, he was 37 years old. But his body's "biometric age" was 59. He was the only person in season one who was very scared of heights. He also had a new son between the two seasons.
He tried a special eating plan called intermittent fasting. But it did not work for him because he stopped eating all carbohydrates. However, he also started eating a lot of seafood. This was because he was hosting a hunting and fishing show.
In 2024, he returned for another season called Match Fit: Union vs. League. He had become less fit again. But his rugby skills were still very sharp. He scored the winning try against the League players in a sudden-death overtime game. It turned out that he was the only person on the team who lived outside of Auckland. This meant he often trained by himself during the show. He also shared that he coaches his oldest daughter's touch rugby, flag rugby, and First XV teams. He is also planning to help with a netball team. He also manages his son's golf team.
See also
In Spanish: Piri Weepu para niños
