Pete Samu

Pete Samu is an explosive, ball carrying loose forward who became the first Wallaby to debut directly from a New Zealand province.

Samu was born in Melbourne to an American Samoan father and a Samoan mother and while his parents flew the flag for the All Blacks, young Peter supported the Wallabies. A powerful back-rower with a preference for the blindside flank, Samu actually played halfback for Moorabbin until the U18s before his schoolboy coach shifted him into the back-row.

In 2012 Samu played his club rugby at Randwick - where he won the ‘Best New Player’ award as well as the Windon Trophy for the club’s best back-rower - and was briefly in the Waratahs Wider Training Group under coach Michael Foley. Samu then spent a season in England with the St Ives club in Cornwall before he accepted an invitation to join the Tasman province in New Zealand.

From there he relocated to New Zealand, taking up an opportunity with Tasman in the ITM Cup, eventually earning a call up to the Crusaders where he would make his Super Rugby debut in 2016.

It was in Christchurch, Samu made a name for himself, part of the back-to-back Super Rugby winning sides of 2017 and 2018 and was parachuted days after the final into the Wallabies squad after agreeing to join the ACT Brumbies ahead of the 2019 season.

He made his Test debut against Ireland in Brisbane in 2018 and featured in nine of the 13 Wallabies’ Tests in his first international season – and has gone on to wear the gold jersey on 34 occasions.

Samu was part of the ACT Brumbies Super Rugby AU title winning side in 2020 under current NSW coach Dan McKellar, and went on to become a Wallabies regular under Dave Rennie, having a particularly memorable 2022 Test season.

In 2023, Samu went overseas to the Bordeaux Begles where he made 34 appearances and won the 2025 European Rugby Champions Cup, starting at No. 8 in the final against the Northampton Saints.

In May 2025, it was confirmed the then 33-year-old would be returning to Australia to play with the NSW Waratahs.

Samu was selected for his first Wallabies squad since 2023, when he was named in Joe Schmidt's squad to take on Argentina in The Rugby Championship in 2025.