Krisnan Inu

Krisnan Nevada Inu (born 17 March 1987) is a former professional rugby league footballer who is currently Assistant Coach at Salford Red Devils. He has played for both New Zealand and Samoa at international level.

Krisnan Inu
Personal information
Full nameKrisnan Nevada Inu
Born (1987-03-17) 17 March 1987
Auckland, New Zealand
Height6 ft 2 in (1.87 m)
Weight16 st 10 lb (106 kg)[1]
Playing information
Rugby league
PositionCentre, Wing
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2007–10 Parramatta Eels 78 36 60 0 264
2011–12 New Zealand Warriors 21 12 0 0 48
2012–14 Canterbury Bulldogs 40 16 70 2 206
2015–17 Catalans Dragons 47 16 6 0 76
2018–19 Widnes Vikings 19 10 35 0 110
2019–21 Salford Red Devils 52 24 195 1 487
2022 FC Lézignan XIII 6 1 0 0 4
2022 Leigh Centurions 23 25 159 0 418
Total 286 140 525 3 1613
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2007–13 New Zealand 6 1 13 0 30
2014 Samoa 1 0 6 0 12
Rugby union
PositionFullback, Wing
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2014–15 Stade Français 10 4 0 0 20
Source: [2][3]
As of 30 December 2022

He has previously played the Parramatta Eels, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the New Zealand Warriors in the NRL, and the Catalans Dragons and the Widnes Vikings in the Super League. Inu is one of two players who have lost grand finals with three clubs.[4] He was a member of the 2008 World Cup-winning New Zealand squad.[3]

Inu has also played rugby union for Stade Français of the Top 14 competition in France.

Background

Inu was born in Auckland, New Zealand and is of Samoan and Tuvalu descent.

Playing career

Parramatta Eels

A Parramatta Eels junior, Inu made his first grade debut in the 2007 NRL season against the Canberra Raiders. After just one first grade match he was named to play for New Zealand in the ANZAC Day Test against Australia at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. The Kangaroos ran out easy 30-6 winners over the Kiwis. After the test, Inu was dropped back to Premier League but returned to first grade through a series of injuries to regular players. Inu took on the kicking duties as Parramatta's primary kicker and full-back, Luke Burt, was injured mid-season. In round 25 Inu scored three tries and kicked seven goals in Parramatta's 46-point win over Brisbane.[5]

Inu played in Parramatta's 2007 preliminary final defeat by Melbourne at Docklands Stadium.[6] In August 2008, Inu was named in the New Zealand training squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup,[7] and in October 2008, he was named in the final 24-man Kiwi squad that went on to win the tournament, playing one game in their win against Papua New Guinea.[8][9][10]

After a 2-4 start to the 2009 season, Parramatta decided to re-tool their line-up, dropping Inu to the New South Wales Cup, with Taulima Tautai replacing him for the round 7 match against the Brisbane Broncos.[11] Inu played in the 2009 NRL Grand Final for Parramatta against the Melbourne Storm at centre.[12] At the end of the 2010 season, Inu told coach Daniel Anderson that he would be joining The New Zealand Warriors on a two year deal.[13]

New Zealand Warriors

Inu played in New Zealand's 2011 NRL grand final loss to The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.[4] Inu's up-and-down tenure at the Warriors was curtailed in May 2012 with his release and immediate signing with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.[14]

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs

Inu was released by the Warriors in May 2012 so he could immediately join the Des Hasler coached Canterbury side.[15]

Inu playing for the Bulldogs in 2014

He signed with the Canterbury outfit until the end of the 2015 season.[15] Inu played in the 2012 NRL Grand Final for Canterbury which they lost 14-4 against Melbourne.[16]

Catalans Dragons

Inu returned to rugby league and was signed by Catalans Dragons in June 2015 to add depth to a depleted squad.[17] On 17 November 2017, Inu signed a two year deal to join The Widnes Vikings.[18]

Widnes Vikings

On 4 April 2018, Inu broke his leg in a match against Warrington. Before the injury, Inu had scored six tries in nine games.[19]

Salford Red Devils

On 27 March 2019, it was announced on the Salford Red Devils official website that Inu, signed a contract with immediate effect. He joined the Super League club on a deal that would see him return to the Super League after previous stints with the Catalans Dragons, and Widnes.[20]

Inu played in the 2019 Super League Grand Final defeat by St. Helens at Old Trafford.[21][22][23]

On 17 October 2020, Inu played in the 2020 Challenge Cup Final defeat for Salford against Leeds at Wembley Stadium.[24]

FC Lézignan XIII

On 28 October 2021, it was reported that he had signed for FC Lézignan XIII in the Elite One Championship[25]

Leigh

In February 2022, Inu signed a one-year deal with Leigh in the RFL Championship.[26] On 28 May 2022, Inu played for Leigh in their 2022 RFL 1895 Cup final victory over Featherstone.[27] On 3 July, Inu scored a hat-trick and kicked eight goals in Leigh's 56-6 victory over Bradford. On 10 July, Inu successfully kicked all eleven conversion attempts in Leigh's 66-10 victory over Workington Town.[28]

Goal kicking style

Inu is known for smiling and laughing before attempting a conversion at goal. This was first revealed during the 2007 NRL season. It later became his trademark and some media Sydney media outlets dubbed him "The Smiling assassin". Inu explained his reason behind this saying "It started at training, Every time I practised kicking, the first thing I'd try to do is kick from the sideline and everyone would start bagging me out and I would start laughing. It's the same when the crowd starts booing. I just start smiling and laughing. If they are going to boo me I might as well laugh about it and if I get it over it just shows them up so I can laugh even more".[29][30]

References
  1. "Catalans Dragons Equipe Saison 2015". Catalans Dragons site officiel. Catalans Dragons S.A.S.P. 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  2. loverugbyleague
  3. "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  4. "Krisnan Inu becomes just second player in history to lose three NRL grand finals with three clubs". 30 September 2012.
  5. "Parramatta 68 v Brisbane 22". Rugby League Tables. stats.rleague.com. Archived from the original on 29 August 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  6. "Melbourne v Parramatta". SMH. 2 October 2009.
  7. "Kiwis select Sonny Bill". Sky Sports. 8 August 2008. Retrieved 8 August 2008.
  8. "Kiwis to wait on Webb and Matai". BBC. 7 October 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2008.
  9. "Rugby league World Cup final: New Zealand end Australia invincibility with 34-20 win". TheGuardian.com. 22 November 2008.
  10. "League: The nice guy finishing first".
  11. "Taylor, Inu out of Broncos-Eels clash". ABC News. 22 April 2009. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2009.
  12. "Warriors' Krisnan Inu old hand at grand finals". October 2011.
  13. "League: Warriors sign Parramatta pair". Otago Daily Times. 11 May 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  14. Parramatta stars Krisnan Inu and Feleti Mateo sign for New Zealand Warriors Daily Telegraph, 10 May 2010
  15. "Inu leaves Warriors for Bulldogs". ABC. 24 May 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  16. "Bulldogs' Grand Final Team List". 25 September 2012.
  17. Amy Jones (25 September 2015). "Krisnan Inu signs new 12-month contract with Catalans Dragons". Sky Sports. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  18. "Widnes Vikings sign Krisnan Inu from Catalans Dragons on a two-year deal". 17 November 2017.
  19. "Broken leg rules out Widnes centre Inu". BBC Sport.
  20. "Salford Red Devils seal deal for Krisnan Inu". 27 March 2019.
  21. "St Helens give Justin Holbrook the perfect send-off with commanding Grand Final victory over Salford". Telegraph. 12 October 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
  22. Unwin, Will (12 October 2019). "St Helens 23-6 Salford Red Devils: Super League Grand Final – as it happened". The Guardian.
  23. "St Helens win 2019 Super League League Leaders' shield". Sky Sports.
  24. "Leeds beat Salford 17-16 after Luke Gale lands late winning drop-goal". BBC Sport.
  25. "Krisnan Inu finds new club". Love Rugby League. 28 October 2021. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  26. "Leigh confirm signing of Krisnan Inu". uk.sports.yahoo.com.
  27. "Featherstone Rovers: 1895 Cup final defeat to Leigh Centurions gives Brian McDermott's side signal of their progress". www.yorkshirepost.co.uk.
  28. "Nene Macdonald hat-trick in Leigh's big win at Workington". www.leighjournal.co.uk.
  29. "More than reason to smile now". NZ Herald.
  30. "Best and worst of 2007". Herald Sun.
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