Fijian Flanker/lock Jasa Veremalua played in Major League Rugby between 2019-2021. He represented the San Diego Legion for his entire MLR career.

Born and raised in the village of Korotogo in Fiji, Jasa Veremalua began his rugby journey with the 7s format highly popular in Fiji. He began playing in a local 7s competition, joining Senibiau Rugby Club in 2006 and later represented Natabua Rugby club before joining the Red Rock 7s team in 2012. He impressed quickly and earned his debut for the Fijian national 7s team in Wellington in 2013 and has appeared in over 120 tournaments for the Fly Fijians in his career. In 2016, Veremalua was named Impact Player of the Tournament at both the USA Sevens in Las Vegas in March and London Sevens in May and later that summer at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, he was part of the team that earned Fiji’s first ever Olympic Medal, a Gold in Men’s Rugby Sevens. For this, the entire team including Veremalua were given Medals of the Order of Fiji (MOF).

Veremalua’s foray in the 15s side of the game at a professional level began when he signed with the San Diego Legion as a back ahead of the 2019 MLR season. Transitioning to the back row, he scored 3 tries on over 500m gained and completed over 140 tackles, appearing in 17 of the Legion’s 18 games that year, starting 16In his debut season in North America to help the Legion advance to the 2019 Final where they fell to the Seattle Seawolves. Veremalua was in the starting XV for the Legion for that final. He would return for the Legion the following season, starting all 5 games as San Diego posted a 5-0 record before the COVID-19 Pandemic cancelled the season after 5 rounds. Veremalua still added a 4th career MLR try and over 100m gained in those 5 games, with 32 tackles made. He returned for a 3rd season in California in 2021, starting 8 of his 15 games and adding another 3 tries on 325m gained and recorded his 2nd 100+ tackle season for the Legion.

In September 2021 after 3 seasons with the San Diego Legion, Veremalua signed with the Tel Aviv Heat in the Rugby Europe Super Cup. He had scored 7 tries on just under 1000m gained in possession and started 29 of his 37 appearances in MLR, completing 282 tackles in total. Since playing for Tel Aviv, Veremalua has returned to the USA and settled in New York where he continues to play rugby 7s with the Viti Barbarians invitational side.

Achievements

• 2019 MLR Runner-Up: San Diego Legion