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| Birth name | Ross Ami Filipo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | (1979-04-14)14 April 1979 (age 45) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Lower Hutt, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 118 kg (260 lb; 18 st 8 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Hutt Valley High School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notable relative(s) | Wife- Louise Filipo Children- Cash Filipo, Kiana Filipo, Maia Filipo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ross Ami Filipo (born 14 April 1979) is a retired New Zealandrugby union footballer. Filipo's career included long stints withWellington in theMitre 10 Cup,Crusaders inSuper Rugby, andBayonne in theTop 14 competition, and appearances for theAll Blacks in 2007-2008.
Filipo first played provincial rugby forMarlborough in 2001. He then played for Wellington B in 2002, and made his debut forWellington in 2003.
Although he had played for theHurricanes development squad in 2003, he was not selected for the Hurricanes in 2004 and instead was drafted into theCrusaders for the 2004Super 12. He then stayed with the Crusaders for the Super 12 and Super 14 until the 2009 season whilst playing for Wellington in theAir New Zealand Cup (formerly the National Provincial Championship) until 2008.
Filipo played for theNew Zealand Māori in 2005 when they defeated theBritish and Irish Lions for the first time – he cites this as a career highlight. After the2007 Super 14 season where Filipo scored sixtries he was selected for theJunior All Blacks. After injuries toAll Black locksAli Williams andKeith Robinson, Filipo was called into the All Blacks squad.
Filipo was also selected for the All Blacks end of seasonGrand Slam tour at the end of 2008; he played against Scotland and Munster during this tour. He was also one of the regular guests on the Rugby Roundtable, which is a rugby union podcast based out of New Zealand.
In April 2009 it was announced that Filipo would be signing forBayonne in the FrenchTop 14 competition; he left for Bayonne at the conclusion of the2009 Super 14 season.
On 11 April 2011 it was announced that Filipo would be signing forWasps in the EnglishAviva Premiership
Filipo retired from professional rugby and returned to New Zealand in 2014, before being called up to play for the Chiefs in 2015. This reawakened his passion for playing and he turned out for Hamilton Marist as a player-coach, winning the Waikato Club Rugby title with them. This preceded a stint in France withRacing 92 in theTop 14 before returning to New Zealand withHawkes Bay.
From there he turned to coaching properly, taking a role as assistant-coach with theCoca-Cola Red Sparks in theTop League in 2017, where he stayed for two years. He was asked to play as well.[1]
2019 saw Filipo move to an assistant coach role with Taupiri as well as entering a Coach Educator role withWaikato Rugby. In 2020 Filipo assisted with coachingWaikato in theMitre 10 Cup, working on defence and the forwards.[2] Filipo was subsequently appointed as the head coach of theWaikato team for the2021 Mitre 10 Cup season.[3]
Filipo is a New Zealander ofMāori descent (Muaūpoko descent).[4]