Born: January 25, 1976 - Apia, Samoa
Test record: 13 Tests (1999-2001, 2003, 2006) - 9 tries (36 points)
Tours: 1999 Tri Nations, 2000 World Cup
Taranaki product Willie Talau became a prominent performer for the Kiwis after being belatedly discovered by Canterbury Bulldogs in the late-1990s.
Born in Samoa, Talau was schooled in New Plymouth and played for the Taranaki Rockets in the Lion Red Cup during the mid-1990s.
The tyro ventured to Sydney to further his career and was spotted by the Bulldogs playing the Metropolitan Cup competition. A powerfully built centre with slick hands and good pace, he broke into the top-grade team late in 1998 and starred in an extraordinary sudden-death run to the grand final.
Talau scored a vital try in the Bulldogs' epic preliminary final comeback win over Parramatta and another in the loss to Brisbane in the decider - just his 13th NRL game.
The 23-year-old debuted for New Zealand in the 1999 Anzac Test and scored a try in the Tri Nations-opening victory over Australia. He then came off the bench in a one-off Test against Tonga, the round-robin win over Great Britain and in the tight loss to the Kangaroos in the final.
Injury prevented him from playing in the 2000 Anzac Test but he was one of the stars of the World Cup at the end of the year. Talau scored six tries in five matches, including a double in the 49-6 semi-final rout of England.
Talau scored two tries in the Kiwis' 36-0 shutout of France midway through 2001. After scoring 14 tries in 20 games for the Bulldogs in 2002 - a campaign ultimately derailed by the club's salary cap scandal - his next Test appearance was in the unfamiliar five-eighth role in a 48-6 loss to Australia in Sydney during 2003.
The 27-year-old left the Bulldogs for St Helens midway through 2003. He scored two tries in the Saints' 2004 Challenge Cup final win over Wigan, celebrated in the club's 2006-08 treble of Challenge Cup triumphs and was a tryscorer in the 2006 Super League grand final defeat of Hull FC.
But Talau's only subsequent appearance for the Kiwis was in a line-up predominantly made up of Super League-based players, who went down 46-14 to Great Britain during 2006.
The veteran represented Samoa at the 2008 World Cup and finished his career in 2010 after two seasons with Salford.
Talau coached St George Illawarra's NSW Cup team to a grand final (losing to the Warriors) at his first attempt in 2025. His son, Tommy, has carved out a reputation as a dynamic centre/winger at NRL level with Wests Tigers and Manly.