A former All Black with Samoan heritage, Sa'u Patrick Tuipulotu has no plans to play for Manu in the immediate future, saying he didn’t want to stand in the way of others keen on representing Samoa.

Currently playing in Japan for the Japanese club side Toyota Verblitz, Sa’u told the Samoa Observer in a virtual press conference on Wednesday evening that he has no plans to play for Manu any time soon.

"Further down the track if there was an opportunity, yeah, but I think like my peers have said before I wouldn't want to take that opportunity away from someone else who is ready in that role to do so," he said. "Further down the track if the opportunity came up I would but in the meantime I wouldn't want to take that opportunity away from anyone else."

Asked what it is like being a Pacific islander playing in Japan, Sa'u said it does not make much difference as there are a lot of players of Pacific island heritage in Japan.

"A lot of Tongans come to play at universities here, not many Samoans,” Sa’u said. “But I think you'll find that here that every team you go to, there's a strong Pacific island presence and that's almost like a taste of home knowing that there's that in most teams.

"I don't feel out of place or anything, it's always good to see a lot of brothers."

Sa’u added that he feels proud carrying the Samoan flag while playing in Japan.

"Not afraid of who I am and where I come from, it's part of who I am," he said.

Born in Christchurch and educated in Auckland, Sa'u was a New Zealand Under-20 representative in 2013 and made his debut for Auckland province in New Zealand’s national provincial championship that same year.

First selected by the Auckland Blues in 2014, Sa'u made his All Blacks debut against England later that year and went on to feature in all five New Zealand matches at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, after having the misfortune of missing the event four years earlier due to injury. 

He joined Verblitz on a one-year contract and will return to the Blues next year with a century of appearances in sight, having already played 89 games in Super Rugby.