The 28-year-old from Tokoroa recently sat down for a kōrero with Te Ao with Moana reporter Hikurangi Jackson in the city of Nagoya (Japan), where he now plays rugby union for Toyota Verblitz after a surprise code switch in late 2024. In the interview, Manu opens up about his deep connection to his bicultural heritage, love for his hometown, rap career, and future All Blacks aspirations.

It’s the big question on everyone’s lips: does Joseph Manu aim to become an All Black?

While that was definitely on the cards, for now, Manu insists his focus is on improving his game and becoming the best player he could be.

“It’s sort of every kid’s dream in New Zealand. Rugby is so big there and I felt like for myself when I was growing up, I was always watching the All Blacks.”

“Now that I’m playing union, I feel like it is the goal, but I’m just focused on where I’m at now and obviously you have to be back home to play for them. But yeah, I would like to say it’s a goal for me.”

Manu could not be better placed to chase that dream, with not just one but two of the most recent former All Blacks head coaches.

Manu catches eye of former coaches

Ian Foster and Steve Hansen are both coaching the Toyota Verblitz team. Manu has also been playing alongside former All Black Aaron Smith and former Wallabies captain Michael Hooper.

Manu who has been playing in both the midfield and on the wing described both coaches as really helpful in his transition and that it “had been a blessing” to train and learn from them.

Foster, who only had good things to say about Manu, talked up Manu’s potential in rugby union.

“What’s impressed me the most is probably him as a person more than anything, (he’s) so well grounded in himself,” Foster said.

“He loves his family, he works hard, he stays humble, but in a real way, he’s legitimately here to learn and grow.

“For someone to come from such a high profile in one sport and then have to learn another one, it takes a special kind of person.

“So I’ve loved the chance to get to know him and am really stoked with the way he’s developed. He just gets better and better.”

Hansen agreed and believed Manu was smart to perfect his game while out of the spotlight.

“He’s a wonderful player (but) more importantly, a wonderful young man and easy to work with,” Hansen said.

“He’s also a well-followed sportsperson on social media and I could only imagine how much pressure he’d be under if he was doing it in New Zealand or Australia.

“I think he’s got a big future in the game if he wants to carry on.”

Like many young men across Aotearoa, Joey Manu said he too grew up wanting to one day play for the All Blacks. Raised in Tokoroa, his childhood was spent playing sportssports, in particular rugby union, from sunrise to sunset, with friends and whānau around town.

He said while he’d always dreamt of a career in sports, he could never have imagined where this love would eventually take him.

“I think it was always sports…I played rugby growing up, so I always wanted to be an All Black and that was probably the dream,” Manu said.

“I just loved sports so much, that’s all I really knew and that’s all I really could do.”

Manu told Hikurangi Jackson that his childhood was rich in cultural connection, with both sets of grandparents ensuring he stayed connected to his Māori whakapapa.

From Rāwhiti and Waikare, Manu also celebrates his Kuki Airani roots. That connection, he said, was easy to maintain in Tokoroa, which he called the ‘16th Island’ due to its large Cook Islander population.

Despite his career taking him abroad, Manu insists his connection to Tokoroa remained strong and that he tried to give back where he could.

“I think you do get treated a little bit differently, but they’re humble people down there and my aunties, uncles and all the elders pretty much pull you straight back down,” Manu said.

“When I do go home, I just try and relax and get around to the schools and try to help some of the young kids to show them that there’s something there for them to make it out.”

For Manu, that ‘out’ came with his NRL debut in 2014, after winning an NRL title with the Sydney Roosters straight out of high school.

From there the former Sydney Roosters centre shot to fame, racking up 181 NRL games, winning two championships, the 2022 Golden Boot, teammates, and 17 Test caps for the Kiwis.

From League phenom to rap star

Manu also tried his luck at rapping, joining forces with his Roosters teammates Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Sitili Tupouniua and Siua Wong to form rap group Dreamyourz.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the quartet dropped their first album, Off-SZN, last month and within two days clocked more than 85,000 streams on Spotify.

Their debut track ‘We Rock The Party’ has also gone viral on social media.

Yet it was Manu’s controversial code-switch from league to union late last year that has everybody talking.

Manu told Hikurangi Jackson that while he knew it had been a risk moving to union at the pinnacle of his league career, it had also been the best decision he’d ever made.

“I just love a challenge and I felt like I was in Sydney and the NRL for a while and was always thinking, what’s next for me?” he said.

“I knew it was gonna be hard and was gonna be a challenge, but I feel like that’s when you really improve as a player and as a person when you are uncomfortable. “

From here it’s expected Manu will move to France mid-2025 to take up a deal in the French Top 14 competition.

With the 2027 Rugby World Cups in sight in Australia – could we see Joseph Manu make a successful switch to rugby union like his former Rooster teammate Sonny Bill Williams? Time will tell.

Watch Te Ao with Moana every Monday at 8 pm on Whakaata Māori or online on Māori Plus. Next week Te Ao with Moana will air sit-down interviews with former All Black head coaches Steve Hansen and Ian Foster.