Naulia Dawai

Naulia Dawai (born 26 June 1987) is a Fijian rugby union player. He primarily plays as a flanker. Dawai currently plays for the Seattle Seawolves of Major League Rugby (MLR).

He previously played for the New England Free Jacks in North America's Major League Rugby competition. Internationally, he has represented at test level.

Early life Dawai is originally from Nadi, a city on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji. He attended Marist Brothers High School in Suva, a city on the same island. Dawai moved to New Zealand in 2011.

Rugby career New Zealand provincial rugby After moving to New Zealand in 2011, Dawai played club rugby in Southland.

The following season Dawai moved provinces to Otago. His first campaign with his new side saw him make just five appearances in the 2014 NPC with three of these coming as a replacement, as Otago finished second from bottom in the Championship Division. The campaign saw Otago reach the semi-finals of the Championship Division, where they were beaten 34–14 by Wellington.

In the 2016 season he has continued to play regularly for the side, playing in all nine of the team's regular season games, starting six. He also continued his strong scoring form, with five tries in the competition.

Connacht In October 2016, it was announced that Dawai had signed a two-year deal with Irish provincial team Connacht. He will join the team at the end of the 2016 National Provincial Championship. He was recommended to Connacht by Otago head coach Cory Brown, who had previously worked for the province. He made his debut for Fiji on 11 June 2016 in a 23–18 win, playing the entire 80 minutes. Dawai started again the following week against , playing the full game again as won 26–16 to claim the PNC title. Dawai made his third appearance for Fiji a week later again, when he started against Georgia, a game which the touring Georgians won 14–3. He was also part of the team that beat the touring Scotland side 22–27 in 2017 and is it only the second time the pacific islanders have won since their first win back in 1998.