New Zealand born Samoan centre/fly-half William Talataina-Mu played in Major League Rugby between 2022-2024. He represented Old Glory DC for his entire MLR career.

Talataina is a capped Samoan international, starting all 3 matches in the 2018 World Rugby Pacific Challenge against Fiji, Tonga, and Japan. He has played with the New Zealand U19s and Samoa U20s. At club level, Talataina has played with Southland in the (now) Bunnings NPC in 2017, as well as Auckland between 2020-2021. In between his stints in the NPC, he has played with the Ponsonby Ponies since 2015.

Talataina’s initial move to MLR was announced by Old Glory DC in December of 2021, ahead of the 2022 MLR season. He started all 16 games for the Flags in his debut season in North America, scoring 8 tries and going 4/8 (50.00%) from the tee for a total of 53pts, placing him 2nd on Old Glory DC that season behind Rohan Saifoloi, and T-7th league-wide for tries scored. Talataina followed up his impressive debut season with another, appearing in (and starting) 15 games of DC’s 2023 campaign and scoring 9 tries in the regular season as the Flags earned their first ever Championship Series appearance, where William Talataina added a 10th try as DC made it to the Eastern Conference Final before falling to eventual champions New England Free Jacks, 25-7. Talataina again finished 2nd on the team in scoring, with 54pts behind Tito Diaz Bonilla (96). He finished T-7th in MLR for tries scored that season again.

As of the conclusion of the 2024 season, Talataina was Old Glory DC‘s all-time leading try scorer with 23, and 2nd in terms of points scored on 132 having added 5 tries to his total in 15 games (10 starts) during 2024. He is one of only 2 DC players to pass 100pts scored for the club, behind Jason Robertson.

Achievements:

• MLR Team of the Week: 2024 – Rd 10
• T-7th in MLR Try Scoring: 2023 (10)
• MLR Team of the Week: 2023 – Round 12
• T-7th in MLR Try Scoring: 2022 (8)
• MLR Team of the Week: 2022 – Round 16