Krisnan Inu
![]() Inu (left) in 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Krisnan Nevada Inu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 185 cm (6 ft 1 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 98 kg (15 st 6 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Position | Centre, Wing, Fullback | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: NRL Stats As of 16 July 2010 |
Krisnan Nevada Inu (born 17 March 1987) is a New Zealand professional rugby league player who currently plays for the Parramatta Eels in the Australasian National Rugby League competition. Inu was a member of the World Cup winning New Zealand team beating Australia in the 2008 World Cup Final at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane.
Playing career
Parramatta
A Parramatta Eels junior, Inu made his first grade debut in 2007 against the Canberra Raiders. After just one first grade match he was named to play for the Kiwis in the ANZAC Day Test.
After the test, Inu was dropped back to Premier League but returned to first grade through a series of injuries to regular players. Inu took on the kicking duties as Parramatta's primary kicker and full-back, Luke Burt, was injured mid-season.
In 2007, along with Hayne, Inu was the Eels top try-scorer. Inu's successful season was recognised when he was nominated for Rookie of the Year at the 2007 Dally M awards but was beaten by Melbourne Storm centre Israel Folau.
After a 2-4 start to the 2009 season, the Eels decided to re-tool their line-up, dropping Inu to the New South Wales Cup, with Taulima Tautai replacing him for the Round 7 match against the Brisbane Broncos.[1] However, Inu returned to first grade from Round 10 onwards.
Due to the Parramatta Clubs poor form in early 2009, Krisnan's own form was unusually quite and he was told to "get more aggressive" by the Parramatta coaching staff. In the Eels late season comeback to be labeled as finals contenders after winning 6 in a row, Krisnan topped off a return to form in his best game of the season (against the Wests Tigers in round 24) by scoring a try, 2 line breaks, a try assist, 3 offloads and he also took care of the goal kicking duties scoring 5 from 5 attempts after Luke Burt was injured while scoring a try.
In Parramatta's much anticipated Grand Final Qualifier against arch-rivals Canterbury Bulldogs Inu guided his team to victory with a number of runs on the Bulldogs defense that resulted in clean breaks or tries.
Warriors
In May 2010, Inu signed with the New Zealand Warriors for the 2011 NRL season and the two following years.[2]
Representative career
Inu made his international debut for New Zealand on Friday, 20 April for the 2007 Anzac Test against Australia at Brisbane, as a replacement for the unavailable Brent Webb after playing only one first grade match in Round four against the Canberra Raiders.
In August 2008, Inu was named in the New Zealand training squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup,[3] and in October 2008, he was named in the final 24-man Kiwi squad.[4] He was a member of the team who defeated Australia in the Grand Final to win the World Cup.
In 2009 Inu was part of the Kiwis Four Nations squad.
Personal life
Inu is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is also a childhood friend of Jarryd Hayne and Israel Folau. All three of these players grew up together in the suburb of Minto in Western Sydney and were at one stage part of the same rugby team. For religious reasons, Inu is a non-drinker.
References
- ^ "Taylor, Inu out of Broncos-Eels clash". ABC News. 22 April 2009. Retrieved 23 April 2009.
- ^ Parramatta stars Krisnan Inu and Feleti Mateo sign for New Zealand Warriors Daily Telegraph, 10 May, 2010
- ^ "Kiwis select Sonny Bill". Sky Sports. 2008-08-08. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
- ^ "Kiwis to wait on Webb and Matai". BBC. 2008-10-07. Retrieved 2008-10-07.