Xavier
Saifoloi

Xavier Saifoloi played first XV rugby for Botany Downs Secondary college from year 10 onwards, earning himself the MVP awards for senior rugby and volleyball in 2021. The same year he was selected for the Blues U18 wider training squad before moving to the Waikato Academy while attending University studying Sports Science.

Xavier was selected for the Super Rugby U20s Barbarian side and the NZ University team which toured Japan.

Initially not part of the announced squad for the Waikato in 2023, Xavier played his debut for the provincial side in the starting line up in a narrow loss against Hawkes Bay and went on to play the remainder of the season with multiple more starts and remained part of the team for 2024.

Xavier made his Crusaders debut in 2025 in a 55-33 win against Western Force.

“I’ve been really impressed with the culture of the team” said Xavier, “The culture here is really strong and I love that”.