Wairangi Koopu
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Personal information
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| Full name | Dane Wairangi Manurea Koopu | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
2 April 1980 Opotiki, New Zealand |
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Playing information
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| Height | 187 cm (6 ft 2 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 100 kg (15 st 10 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Second-row, Centre | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source: NRL Stats RLP | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wairangi Koopu (born 2 April 1980 in Opotiki, New Zealand) is a professional rugby league player for the Pt Chev Pirates in New Zealand. Koopu primarily plays in the second row, although he also can play in the centres.
Before joining the New Zealand Warriors, Koopu played for the Taniwharau Rugby League club in Huntly. In 1998 he also represented the Waikato Cougars, played for the Junior Kiwis and was named in the National Māori tournament team after representing Waikato Māori.
Koopu is fluent in Te Reo Maori and often appears on Māori Television. He is a part of the iwi Te Whānau-ā-Apanui.
During the early part of 1999, while on contract with the Warriors, Koopu played for the Glenora Bears and represented Auckland North.
Koopu made his first grade debut for the Auckland Warriors in Round 6, 1999. He went on to play for the club 159 times, earning the nickname "Mr Consistency", which is interesting.
Koopu played for the New Zealand Warriors from the interchange bench in their 2002 NRL Grand Final loss to the Sydney Roosters.
Koopu seriously injured his shoulder in 2006 and never fully regained his consistency with the Warriors. As a result, after ten years with the Warriors, Koopu was released by the club at the end of the 2008 season.
After being released by the Warriors, Koopu considered a switch to rugby union and trained with the Auckland Rugby Union team, but he eventually accepted a one-year contract with the Melbourne Storm for the 2009 season. The Storm team won the Premiership that year.
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