The Seattle Seawolves re-signed Lopeti Aisea for the 2023 Major League Rugby season. The 24-year-old center/wing is 6’0″ and 230 lbs.
He was scouted at the Seawolves Talent ID Camp in August 2021 and becomes the first homegrown Oregon player to sign for the Pacific Northwest Major League Rugby (MLR) Club. Lopeti played 39 minutes in 4 matches for the Seawolves in 2022.
Lopeti and his older brothers Sione, Usaia, and younger brother Pone are from Portland, Oregon with Tongan parents, who moved to the United States to raise their family. Lopetit played varsity football since his freshman year when he was 14 while at Lincoln High School. His father, Sione Aisea Sr. was the rugby coach at the school and just like his older brothers, he played rugby and football.
Lopeti played rugby during his freshman and sophomore years for the Lincoln Cardinals, and in April 2013 toured England with the USA Under-17s at the RFU Wellington College International Rugby Festival. During his junior and senior years in high school, he played for the Beaverton Barbarians and helped them win the Oregon State Championship his senior year in 2015. He also played for the Oregon Redhawks all four years of high school against regional select sides.
After high school, he played for the Eastside Tsunami, and played for the Oregon Rugby Sports Union (ORSU) in the Silver Cup bracket, held at Starfire Stadium. He attended the Seattle Seawolves’ Talent ID Camp in August, where he was identified as a potential player by head coach Allen Clarke and general manager Pate Tuilevuka.
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