LA Giltinis Adds Marco Fepulea’i

LA Giltinis signed Marco Fepulea’i for the 2021 Major League Rugby season. The 25-year-old (26 in April) tighthead prop is 6’0″ and 269 lbs.

Marco became available to the Giltinis after he became a free agent after not being selected in the Dallas Jackals supplemental draft. The draft was necessitated after the jackals postponed entry to the league until 2022.

Marco played 371 minutes, starting all five matches for the Colorado Raptors in 2020. Following the season he returned to New Zealand and played for Ponsonby and for Auckland in the Mitre 10 Cup.

During the 2019 MLR season, he played 496 minutes in 10 matches, starting 7 times, and had 1 try. He made 70 carries for 334 meters, had 59 tackles, with 1 lineout take. He also had 1 linebreak, 3 tackle breaks, and 1 offload. After the season, Marco returned to New Zealand and played with Auckland in the Mitre 10 Cup.

Marco is from Auckland, New Zealand, and comes from a family that has produced two All Blacks. His uncles Pat Lam is All Black 928 and is the head coach of the Bristol Bears in the England Premiership Rugby, and Dylan Mika, who died earlier this year, is All Blacks 982.

Marco attended Auckland Grammar School and played rugby in the 2012 Secondary School Final. He played for the 2015 Blues Under-20s team against the Hurricanes in Taupo. He also has attended the Auckland University of Technology since 2016.

Marco played club rugby for Ponsonby and provincial rugby for Auckland in 2017. He also played for Ardmore Marist South Auckland Motors, winning the McNamara Cup in 2018.

From 2017-2018 he played with Auckland in the Mitre 10 Cup making his debut against Taranaki on September 8, 2017. In the 2018 Semifinals, he scored a try in the win over Wellington. Auckland then won the final 40-33 over Canterbury.

LA Giltinis Comments

The LA Giltinis have significantly beefed up their front-row stocks with the astute signing of New Zealand prop Marco Fepulea’i.

Today’s announcement means Fepulea’i, 25, is on the way to Los Angeles after being picked up in January’s dispersal draft of players from the grounded Dallas Jackals.

Fepulea’i has top-level credentials to go with his size at 269 lbs (122kg) and 6’ 0” (1.83m). Auckland’s 2018 Mitre 10 Cup success is the peak of his ongoing career in NZ’s domestic competition and he will arrive sharpened by pre-season training with the Blues’ Super Rugby squad.

His taste of Major League Rugby with the Glendale (Colorado) Raptors in 2019 and 2020 has also prepared him to make an immediate mark at the Giltinis.

“I see myself taking a step forward at the Giltinis, not a step back, because of the coaching staff and players, who can compete to win from the start,” Fepulea’i said.

“That’s a big thing for me because team success is one of the main reasons I play.

“I was pretty gutted when the Dallas news came out of the blue but this is an exciting new LA team I want to be a part of in an exciting city.”

Fepulea’i said working with scrum coach Alex Corbisiero, the former British and Irish Lions prop, was an incentive to find ways to keep improving as a tighthead prop.

Fepulea’i joins Blake Rogers, Mafi Seanoa, Charlie Abel, JP, and Ruan Smith, and Sione Tuihalamaka as props on the strong Giltinis roster.

“Having played MLR since 2019 I know how much it has improved, how players understand the game more, and how set-piece orientated it can be at times,” Fepulea’i said.

“Getting to experience a different country and lifestyle was part of heading to the USA in the first place. I’ve played in the snow in Colorado and now I get to do it in the sun of LA.

“The way that (head coach) Darren Coleman sold to me how he wants the team to play was another big positive in LA feeling like the right choice.”

His signing wins a big tick from those rugby hardheads who believe the most important position in a rugby team is tighthead prop and the second most vital role player is the reserve tighthead prop.

He also has rugby pedigree in his family with uncles Pat Lam and the late Dylan Mika both having represented the All Blacks.

“We’ve been very lucky to secure a player of Marco’s talent so late in the recruitment process,” Coleman said.

“This is further enhanced by the fact, with the MLR classification of Dallas foreign players, that he will play for us classed as a ‘local’ player.

“He’s coming in hot off Blues’ pre-season training in Auckland and we are very excited to see a quality tighthead prop join our group.”

The Giltinis will kick off their MLR campaign at home against the New England Free Jacks on March 20.