As we close out Week 38, Bay of Plenty star Emoni Narawa’s hot run of form has catapult him into top spot of our rolling top 10.

In the 3 matches he played in September he has 5 tries to his name and was denied a sixth in one of the best no-tries you will see this year. Narawa has been nested in our top 10 since the commencement of the NPC season and takes the number 1 spot for the first time. He has held second position behind Marika Koroibete for the past month. Narawa’s 8 tries this season is the most by all Fijians in active Rugby Union competitions.

In round 7 against Southland he ran for a game high 138 metres, scored 2 tries and setting up another, beat 10 defenders with 3 offloads. He was pipped to our player of the week in week 37 by Seru Uru who won man of the match honours in the Queensland Hospital Cup Grand Final.

Tasman centre Levi Aumua has closely followed Narawa and has also been in the top 10 since round 1 of the NPC. He has been in the top 5 for the past 8 weeks and 10 weeks overall this year. The powerful centre is averaging 9 beaten defenders per game through his last 3 games.

Sireli Maqala moves up to number 3 from 8th spot after a solid run of games to open the season for Bayonne. He is our highest ranking player in the Top 14 since the start of the season.

North Harbour lock Isoa Nasilasila in his 7th straight week on the list moves up to his highest ranking at 4. He has scored 2 tries in his past 2 games and has nailed down that starting position at the club that sees itself in 2nd spot in the evens conference behind competition favourites Canterbury.

Wallabies pair Marika Koroibete and Rob Valetini drop to 5th and 6th respectively after the Wallabies copped a couple of losses to the All-Blacks in the past fortnight. Both players have alternated through top position for the 7 weeks prior with Koroibete dropping from #1 for the first time in 5 weeks. The speedy winger will not tour with the Wallabies and return to his club in Japan. This is his 10th consecutive week in the rolling 10 and 13th overall. Rob Valetini has featured 20 weeks of the year with this being his 9th straight week.

7th position is Filipo Nakosi’s highest ranking since re-entering the list 3 weeks ago. The Castres winger has turned out solid performances consistently since round 1 of the Top 14.

Jiuta Wainiqolo in his second consecutive week and 4th overall this year is unlucky not be higher and although Toulon lost to Perpignan over the weekend he continues to be one of his side’s most lethal attacking players.

Peniasi Malimali makes his first appearance on the list after a solid 3 weeks where he has scored 2 doubles for the Steelers. The powerful winger is starting to turn heads in the NPC with his powerful runs and finishing abilities.

Wame Naituvi didn’t play over the weekend and drops down to 10th from 5th position in his 5th consecutive week on the list. He is also the only Pro D2 player to feature on the list since Sireli Maqala at the back end of the 2021/2022 season.

Player of the week

Our player of the week award is given to the player who we thought was our best performance across all codes. In the past fortnight Kaminieli Rasaku (Sevens World Cup) and Seru Uru (Qld Premier Rugby) have taken the award.

This week Levi Aumua gets his first player of the week award this year. He turned in 2 tries, a try assist, 79 metres off 9 runs with 13 defenders beaten. Masivesi Dakuwaqa finishes a close second. The Montpellier flanker returned for his first match of the season and was named in the Rugbyrama Top 14 team of the week. Another strong performance will force his way into the Top 10 list.