This is the player’s profile of the All Blacks rugby union player Kevan Mealamu. Know more about him and his professional career in this article.
Basic Details about Keven Mealamu
- Full Name: Keven Filipo Mealamu
- Date of Birth: 20th March 1979
- Place of Birth: Tokoroa, New Zealand
- Height: 5 ft 11 ½ in (1.81 m)
- Weight: 111 Kg (17 st 7 lb)
- Nationality: New Zealand
Professional Details about Keven Mealamu
- Position: Hooker
- All Blacks Player No: 1026
- Provisional Sides Played for: Auckland (Since 1999)
- Super Rugby Sides Played for: Blues (From 2000-01 and since 2003) | Chiefs (In 2000)
- National Teams: New Zealand
More about Keven Mealamu
Keven Mealamu is a New Zealand All Blacks player who belongs to the Maori community in New Zealand. He was born at Tokoroa in Waikato province of New Zealand in 1979. He plays for the Blues in the Super Rugby and Auckland in the provisional rugby tournament, the National Provincial Championship. Keven Mealamu has already earned the honor of playing 100 or more international rugby matches for the All Blacks. He achieved this feat on 20th October 2012 when he played against Australia in a Bledisloe Cup.
Before making his debut for the New Zealand All Blacks, Keven Mealamu played for the New Zealand Under -16s as well. Keven Mealamu played his first test match for the All Blacks on 23rd November against Wales at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Before that, he started playing for Blues in 2000 and Auckland in 1999.
Keven Mealamu was one of the chief engineers of New Zealand’s famous victory in the 2006 Tri-Nations tournament with his two tries against the Wallabies in the first game. Keven Mealamu has also captained the Blues side during the 2006 Super 14 tournament. In 2008 during the Grand Slam Tour, in a match against Scotland, the regular captain Richie McCaw took a break, and hence Keven Mealamu took over the reins from him.
Keven Mealamu is no short of controversies either. During the Lions tour of 2005, Keven Mealamu was alleged for doing a ‘deliberate spear tackle’ against the Lions captain Brian O’Driscoll. Although the inquiry commission found no credible evidence against Mealamu but armature footage suggested that Keven Mealamu was in fact did some mischief. In 2010 again Keven Mealamu found guilty for headbutting Lewis Moody of England at Twickenham and he was given a 4 weeks ban. When appealed against the decision the IRB reduced the ban to two weeks.