Born: February 3, 1990 – Auckland
Test record: 24 Tests (2014-18) – 0 points
Tours: 2014 Four Nations, 2015 tour of England, 2016 Four Nations, 2017 World Cup, 2018 tour of England

Fearsome forward Martin Taupau played 24 consecutive Tests for New Zealand from 2014-18, while the late-bloomer went on to play more than 250 NRL games for Canterbury, Wests Tigers, Manly and Brisbane.

Born in Auckland, Taupau moved to Sydney as a 10-year-old and played his junior football for Padstow Panthers and Greenacre Tigers. He represented Australian Schoolboys in 2008 from Endeavour Sports High and became a mainstay for the Bulldogs’ NYC team.

Taupau made a solitary NRL appearance for the Bulldogs in 2010 and captained the Junior Kiwis in a drawn two-match series with the Junior Kangaroos that year. After playing just 21 top-grade games for Canterbury across four seasons – a period that included a Test debut for Samoa against Tonga in early-2013 – Taupau joined the Tigers in 2014 and enjoyed a breakout season.

He debuted for the Kiwis in a new-look Anzac Test line-up, while after playing every game for the Tigers he came off the bench throughout their triumphant Four Nations campaign – including both wins over the Kangaroos.

Taupau featured prominently in another victory over Australia in 2015 – a drought-breaking Anzac Test success in Brisbane – though he courted controversy for an alleged throat-slitting gesture to rival forward Sam Thaiday. He played in all three Tests against England at the end of the year before heading to Manly.

An imposing 110kg-plus proposition with tremendous mobility and a high work-rate, Taupau’s underrated durability saw him played 156 games in seven seasons with the Sea Eagles. He played in the last two Anzac Tests in 2016-17, every match for New Zealand during the 2016 Four Nations and the 2017 World Cup, and four more Tests during 2018 – including another victory at Australia’s expense in Auckland. The 28-year-old’s Kiwis swansong came during the end-of-year series in England, playing in the first two matches.

Taupau pledged his allegiance to Samoa and represented the nation against Papua New Guinea and Fiji in 2019, while he was a senior member of the side that powered to a historic World Cup final appearance in 2022.

The evergreen enforcer linked with the Broncos in 2023.