Mils Muliaina

Junior Malili "Mils" Muliaina, born on 31 July 1980 in Salelesi, Samoa, moved to Invercargill, New Zealand, when he was three years old. He played professionally as a fullback, centre, or wing, and his last club was the San Francisco Rush in the US PRO Rugby competition. Muliaina represented New Zealand internationally from 2003 until retiring after the 2011 Rugby World Cup. In the 2011 World Cup quarterfinal against Argentina, he became just the second All Black to earn 100 test caps. Over his career, he scored 33 tries for New Zealand, placing him among the top 40 try scorers in rugby union history.

His schooling began at Cargill High School and then Southland Boys' High School. In 1998, his rugby skills earned him a scholarship to Kelston Boys' High School in Auckland. That same year, he played for the NZ Secondary Schools XV, which won the world championship. He repeated that success with the Under 19 side the following year, and in 2000 and 2001 he was part of the world champion Under 21 (NZ Colt) teams.

Muliaina joined the Auckland Blues in 2001 and was part of their Super 12 title-winning squad in 2003. He made his All Blacks test debut against England on 14 June 2003 at Wellington's Westpac Stadium and was selected for the 2003 Rugby World Cup squad. In 2004, he was the only player to appear in every All Blacks test that year. He also played in 11 sevens tournaments, winning a Commonwealth Games gold medal in 2002 in Manchester. Although he preferred playing outside centre, he usually featured at fullback. In 2006, he moved to the Chiefs, and in 2011 he earned his 100th Super Rugby cap.

During the 2011 Rugby World Cup, on 9 October, Muliaina started at fullback against Argentina for his 100th All Blacks appearance. He left the field at halftime with a shoulder injury, later revealed to be a fracture, which ended his involvement in the tournament. He announced his retirement from the All Blacks the next day, 10 October 2011, but returned on 23 October to collect a gold medal after New Zealand won the World Cup final.

On 4 May 2014, Muliaina signed a one-year contract with Irish provincial side Connacht in the Pro12. He made his debut for them on 21 November 2014 in a 43–3 win over Zebre at the Sportsgrounds. In July 2015, he was charged with sexual assault following an incident in a Cardiff nightclub, but the charge was dropped in October 2015 due to insufficient evidence.

In March 2016, it was announced that Muliaina would play in the newly formed US PRO Rugby competition, joining the San Francisco Rush partway through the 2016 season.

His nephew, Mika Muliaina, plays for the Highlanders and the Baby Blacks. Muliaina’s achievements include being a Rugby World Cup Sevens champion (2001), Under 21 world champion (2000 and 2001), Commonwealth Games gold medalist in sevens (2002), IRB Sevens World Series champion (1999, 2000, 2001), ITM Cup champion with Auckland (1999, 2002, 2005) and Waikato (2006), Super Rugby champion (2003), NZ Super Rugby Player of the Year (2009), Tri-Nations champion (2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010), British & Irish Lions series winner (2005), Grand Slam winner (2005, 2008, 2010), IRB Player of the Year nominee (2010), and Rugby World Cup champion (2011). He earned 100 All Blacks test caps, three as captain, and played 106 Super Rugby matches for the Blues and Chiefs.