Rugby Star Dies After Jumping Off A Bridge In A Happy Mood

A terrible and unfortunate tragedy happened in France where a happy rugby club player died after jumping off a bridge despite his teammate’s desperate attempts to stop him.

The French rugby club has been thrown into mourning following the loss of former Samoan sevens international; Kelly Meafua who died after jumping off a bridge after a victory in France.

The 32-year-old flanker was playing for Montauban, who had just celebrated a win over Narbonne on Friday (Saturday NZ time) in France’s Pro D2 second tier.

“Everyone at USM is in complete shock, Kelly was so well-liked. We haven’t just lost a player but also a friend and brother,” the club said in a statement.

French news reports said Meafua and teammates had been celebrating Montaubaun’s victory in the final home game of the season before he jumped off the Pont-Vieux bridge into the river Tarn, from a height of more than 20 meters.

Montauban prop Christopher Vaotoa went to his teammate’s rescue but had to be rescued by firefighters and taken to the hospital with hypothermia.

Meafua’s body was recovered the next morning.

The Union Sportive Montauban Sapiac club website posted a tribute to Meafua.

“U.S.M. Sapiac painfully announces the death of Kelly Meafua on the night of Friday to Saturday,” the club statement said.

“One of his teammates tried to rescue him, without success.

“Transported to the hospital for hypothermia, he [Vaotoa] was released this morning in good health. All training is suspended until further notice.

“The entire U.S.M. Sapiac club is shocked by this tragedy and has a thought for his wife, his children, his teammates, and more generally, all club lovers. Kelly was a player very appreciated by all, his joie de vivre was infectious and radiant.”

Pacific Rugby Welfare stated it was “shocked and saddened to hear the news coming out of France’’ and its thoughts were with the families of Meafua and Vaotoa.

Shocked and saddened by the news coming out of France today.

Thoughts and prayers are with the families of Kelly Meafua 🇼🇸 and Christopher Voatoa 🇫🇷 at this time 🙏🏽https://t.co/DIhIvc1Mq3

— PacificRugbyWelfare (@pacificwelfare) May 7, 2022

Meafua who was from the villages of Sala’ilua and Lalomauga was a regular player on the sevens circuit for Samoa and played for the Greater Sydney Rams in Australia’s National Rugby Championship.

He also turned out for the Waratahs in the Global Tens tournament in Brisbane in 2018.

Meafua first went to France in 2015 to play for Narbonne after playing club rugby in Auckland. The 1.88m backrower later moved to Beziers in 2018.

A report in the Midi Libre newspaper at the time Meafua joined Beziers said the flanker grew up in Samoa and moved to Auckland at 14. He did not start playing rugby till he joined Otahuhu at 20 but soon made the Auckland under-21 and Auckland sevens squads.

Meafua moved to Sydney to play Shute Shield club rugby for West Harbor. He was named in the Greater Sydney Rams and was part of the Waratahs’ Super Rugby team’s extended training squad.

After his time with Beziers, he joined Montauban in 2021. He scored eight tries in 24 matches this season.

Montauban is in the Occitaine region in southern France, about 50km from Toulouse.

May his soul rest in peace, Amen.