Utah Warriors & Havea Unufe

The Utah Warriors signed USA Falcon and Rugby Utah Selects 7s player Havea Unufe. He is 6’1″ tall and weighs 220 pounds.

Unufe is from Hilo, Hawaii, but grew up in Provo, Utah with five brothers and one sister. He can turn to older brother Maka about rugby, as he plays for the Eagles 7s and was an Olympian in Rio.

Havea Unufe played football as a child but quickly found himself being attracted to rugby’s fast pace and intensity. In High School, Unufe started playing for the Orem Stallions and then joined the Provo Steelers. He also attended the University of Utah.

Unufe has also played with National teams. In 2012 Unufe trained with the College All American 7s team and in 2016 trained at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Center. The latter earned a spot on the USA Falcons for their South American tour to the Punte del Este 7s in Uruguay and the Vīna del Mar 7s in Chile in January 2017.

Summer 2017 continued to be a good rugby year, as he helped the Rugby Utah Selects squad to win a second Club 7s National title. He then followed that up with Rugby Utah earning third place at the Rugbytown 7s.

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Unufe said, “It’s a real honor for me to represent the great state of Utah. This is my home, it’s where I was raised and I hope to make our people proud. This past summer with the Rugby Utah Selects 7s was a blast, and I’m looking forward to this new opportunity with the Warriors to help build a strong platform and brotherhood.”

Warriors Head Coach Alf Daniels said, “Havea is a player with a high ceiling. He’s still young, and with his hard work ethic, will continue to grow into a phenomenal rugby player. A lot of people in the rugby community know about his brother Maka and his international 7s success, but Havea has flown under the radar. They share a lot of the same attributes: speed, size, great feet and natural rugby instincts. Havea’s got some great agility for a guy his size, so we expect him to be a handful in the midfield. He’s shown a lot of poise and character this past season with Utah Selects 7s team and will undoubtedly be an important part of our team’s success this season.”