Aki Seiuli

Aki Seiuli (born 22 December 1992) is a New Zealand born rugby union player of Samoan heritage who currently plays as a prop for Utah Warriors and the Samoan national side. He previously played for Dragons; Glasgow Warriors; and the New Zealand sides - in domestic Mitre 10 Cup - and the - in the international Super Rugby competition.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Born in Christchurch on New Zealand's South Island, Seiuli moved to the town of Timaru, which lies roughly halfway between Christchurch and Dunedin, in 2002 and attended Timaru Boys' High School there. He captained the school's first XV rugby side in his final year before going on to play once for South Canterbury in the Heartland Championship while he was still a college student. He later moved to Otago and turned out for the Taieri Eels with whom he won the Dunedin Premier Club Championship in 2012. He made the bench for the Highlanders clash with the on 16 May 2014, but remained an unused replacement and in the end didn't make any appearances during the year.

Seiuli once again found himself in the Super Rugby wilderness in 2015 before injuries once again provided him with an opportunity in 2016. A season-ending injury suffered by Brendon Edmonds in April 2016 saw Seiuli brought in as back up to Daniel Lienert-Brown and Craig Millar. He finally made his Super Rugby debut in an impressive 26-13 victory over the in Hamilton on 7 May 2016 and went on to play 7 times in total during the year as his side reached the tournament semi-finals before going down to the in Johannesburg.

Tony Brown replaced the bound Jamie Joseph as Highlanders head-coach ahead of the 2017 Super Rugby season and having worked with Seiuli before at provincial level, he saw fit to promote him to the franchise's senior squad ahead of his first campaign in charge. Seiuli stated: "Glasgow play a great brand of rugby, and that really drew me here. I’m really looking forward to getting out in front of the crowd here at Scotstoun. Hearing them at the Sale Sharks game was awesome – they’re on another level, and the atmosphere was incredible." He made his competitive debut for the Warriors on 30 November 2019, becoming Glasgow Warrior No. 308. Of the Glasgow move he told the Warrior Nation in a Q & A: "I’m loving it. The team is a great bunch of guys and the fans have been so welcoming since I came to Glasgow." He was nominated for the Glasgow Warriors Player of the Season award in 2019-20.

On 20 July 2021 he signed with Dragons.

Seiuli left the Dragons to join Major League Rugby side Utah Warriors ahead of their 2025 season.

Super Rugby Statistics

Both Seiuli's parents are Samoan, and his father was reportedly very keen for his son to represent Samoa.