Wallace Sititi: named for Braveheart, back at Murrayfield in the All Blacks No 8 jersey

Wallace Sititi was named after William Wallace, the Scottish hero of the film Braveheart, because his parents loved the movie. They were living in the Scottish Borders at the time, where his father, the former Samoa captain Semo Sititi, was playing professional rugby. This weekend, two years after he was named World Rugby's Breakthrough Player of the Year, the son is back at Murrayfield, wearing the All Blacks No 8 jersey against Scotland.

A Scottish name, born in Samoa

Wallace Sititi was born in Apia on 7 September 2002. He was nearly born in Scotland. His father was playing for the Border Reivers in Galashiels, under the New Zealand coach Tony Gilbert, but before the birth his mother went home to Samoa to help care for a family member who was ill, and Wallace arrived there instead. He went back to Scotland at "two or three weeks" old, 1News reported in 2025, and the family stayed another four years.

Rugby was the family trade. Semo Sititi, born in 1974, played 59 Tests for Samoa between 1999 and 2009 and took over the captaincy from Pat Lam after the 1999 World Cup. He also captained the Samoa sevens side, played five games for the Hurricanes in 2000, and had spells with Cardiff, the Borders and Newcastle before moving to Japan, where he played for NTT DoCoMo in Osaka. According to Wikipedia, Wallace spent several years of his childhood in Japan before the family settled in South Auckland. His father said in 2026 that they came to New Zealand for education, sport and health opportunities.

The family's roots are in the Samoan villages of Alafua, Lotopa, Sataua, Tufulele and Poutasi. "I'm always going to be proud to be Samoan," he told the Samoa Observer in 2024.

De La Salle College

He went to De La Salle College in Mangere East from Year 7 to Year 13, and by his final year, 2020, he was deputy head boy and captain of the First XV. Principal Myles Hogarty remembered a student who always wanted to be a pilot and worked to get the right qualifications for it. "He was always such a well-spoken and kind young man," Hogarty told 1News in 2024. Between Tests that year Sititi went back to the school to thank the boys for their support.

Blues under 20s, then across the bridge

In 2022 Sititi captained the Blues Under 20 side at the Super Rugby Under 20 tournament in Taupō, and was picked for New Zealand Under 20, for whom he played two games and scored two tries. But the path at Auckland and the Blues looked blocked, 1News reported, so later that year he crossed the bridge and knocked on the door at North Harbour.

Steve Jackson, then Harbour's forwards coach and later a Black Ferns assistant, remembered the meeting. "It wasn't about money," Jackson said. Sititi wanted a chance in the NPC, with Super Rugby in mind. After he left the room, Jackson turned to the other coaches and told them: "here's a kid that's going to be a leader." He made his Harbour debut in the 2022 NPC, and in 2023 played a full NPC season after a club season with Massey in West Auckland.

The Chiefs take a punt

The Chiefs had noticed him in those first Harbour games off the bench. Their coach Clayton McMillan recalled that two of Sititi's first actions were direct collisions with Hoskins Sotutu, who was playing for Counties Manukau. "We took a punt on him," McMillan told 1News, pointing out that the Blues had not picked him up despite his under 20 selection.

He trained with the Chiefs in 2023 on a wider training squad deal and played for the Chiefs Development XV, but did not play Super Rugby that year. McMillan said he had to lift his fitness to the level of seasoned professionals, and that the penny dropped straight away. In 2024 he had a full contract, played in most of the Chiefs' games, including the semi-final win over the Hurricanes in Wellington, and started at No 8 in the final at Eden Park, which the Blues won 41-10.

The breakthrough year

On 24 June 2024 he was named in Scott Robertson's first All Blacks squad, at 21 the youngest player in it. He made his Test debut off the bench against Fiji at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego on 19 July 2024 (20 July in New Zealand), a 47-5 win, and came on again against Argentina in Wellington. His first start came at blindside flanker against the Springboks in Cape Town on 7 September, an 18-12 defeat, and he started the last three Rugby Championship Tests.

The forwards coach Jason Ryan liked what he saw, including the lineout ball he won. "He's an extremely humble man," Ryan told The Aotearoa Rugby Pod that October. "He's everything you'd want an All Black to be, really."

On the northern tour he started all five Tests: at No 8 against Japan in Yokohama and France in Paris, and at blindside against England at Twickenham, Ireland in Dublin and Italy in Turin. The 24-22 win at Twickenham was one of the moments he later picked out as the most memorable of his year. In his first season he played ten Tests, eight of them as a starter.

In Monaco on 24 November he was named World Rugby Men's 15s Breakthrough Player of the Year, ahead of South Africa's Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, England's Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Ireland's Jamie Osborne. His All Blacks team-mates Rieko Ioane, Will Jordan and Mark Tele'a had won it before him. Less than three weeks later he was named All Blacks Player of the Year at the New Zealand Rugby Awards, ahead of his Chiefs team-mate Tupou Vaa'i and Tyrel Lomax. A year on, Fabian Holland, his fellow starter at Murrayfield this weekend, won the same World Rugby award.

A knee, then an ankle

The second year was harder. Sititi hurt his knee on the northern tour, and in January 2025 he had meniscus surgery on his right knee. He did not play for the Chiefs until 25 April, when he came off the bench against the Western Force at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. In May he re-signed with the Chiefs and New Zealand Rugby until the end of 2027. "The Chiefs took my family in with open arms," he said, and McMillan praised his "incredible resilience" in coming back from injury.

He was back at No 8 for the 2025 final in Christchurch, which the Crusaders won 16-12. Then came a high ankle injury that needed surgery, and he missed the three-Test series against France and the first Rugby Championship Test in Argentina. He returned off the bench in Buenos Aires and started at No 8 in both Tests against the Springboks, at Eden Park and in Wellington, and in the Bledisloe Cup Test at Eden Park.

A homecoming at Murrayfield

On the 2025 northern tour he scored his first Test try off the bench in a 26-13 win over Ireland at Soldier Field in Chicago. A week later Robertson started him at blindside flanker against Scotland at Murrayfield. "There is a strong connection here for me and my family," Sititi said that week. Just before half-time he dummied and sent Will Jordan over to put the All Blacks 17-0 up, according to Scottish Rugby's match report. In the second half, with the scores level at 17-17, he was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on, the third yellow card of the afternoon for New Zealand, but the All Blacks held on and won 25-17. He finished the tour at No 8 in a 52-26 win over Wales in Cardiff.

2026: a scare, and the No 8 jersey

His 2026 Super Rugby season ended early. In the Chiefs' 46-24 qualifying final win over the Reds in Hamilton on 6 June he took a heavy head knock in a collision with the Reds lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto and then an accidental second knock from team-mate Sione Ahio, and was taken to Waikato Hospital. Scans were clear, and the Chiefs posted a photo of him smiling, but he went into concussion protocols and the Chiefs reached the final without him. "It's never nice to see one of our brothers in a situation like that," said Chiefs coach Jono Gibbes.

He was fit for Dave Rennie's first Test as All Blacks coach, coming off the bench against France in Christchurch, and started at blindside flanker in the 47-17 win over Italy in Wellington, but was left out of the 23 for the Ireland Test a week later. On the tour of South Africa he was withdrawn from the team to play the Stormers through illness, then played against the Sharks in Durban, scored off the bench against the Bulls in Pretoria and played against the Lions in Johannesburg. He came off the bench in the third and fourth Tests against the Springboks, in Soweto and Baltimore. Speaking in Cape Town, he said the All Blacks expected the best and would find someone else when a player fell short.

When Rennie picked Vaa'i at blindside for the first Bledisloe Test at Eden Park, it had a flow-on effect, allblacks.com reported: Sititi started at No 8, with Peter Lakai at openside. The All Blacks won 50-19 at Eden Park and 43-21 in Sydney a week later, when Sititi scored his second Test try.

A Black Fern in the family

While he was in South Africa, his younger sister Amarante Sititi made her Black Ferns debut against Australia at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland on 22 August 2026. The 19-year-old loose forward scored the final try of a 66-19 win. Their father, watching both his children reach the top, said the work was only beginning. "The hardest part now is how long you want to stay in there," Semo told PMN's Pacific Huddle.

Style and standing

Those who have coached him talk about his head as much as his power. Jackson said early on he was telling senior players where to stand, and McMillan described him as "mature beyond his years" in 2024. A year later McMillan called him "one of the most dynamic young players in world rugby". Jackson has gone further, telling 1News he thinks Sititi will be "one of the great All Blacks". For his part, Sititi told the Samoa Observer that the secret was to keep your standards high, "especially behind closed doors".

Honours: World Rugby Men's 15s Breakthrough Player of the Year 2024, All Blacks Player of the Year 2024.

Where he is now

Sititi, 24, has 25 Tests and is named to start at No 8 against Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday 7 November (3.10am Sunday NZ time), between Tupou Vaa'i at blindside and Peter Lakai at openside. It is the ground where he wore the No 6 jersey a year ago, in the country where his name comes from. After the tour of Scotland, Wales and England he returns to the Chiefs, where he has played 29 games, and his contract runs to the end of the 2027 World Cup year.

Career at a glance

Test figures are from RUGBE's match-by-match All Blacks data to 17 October 2026. Provincial and Under 20 figures are from Wikipedia, updated October 2026; the Chiefs total is from the club's 2027 squad announcement.