In 2013, the then 21-year-old was named most promising player of the year after a season that saw him get a regular starting spot, his all-round game had been right up there with the best of the Taranaki backs.
[5] In the 2014 ITM Cup season he was in the top five statistics in tries scored, clean breaks, defenders beaten, metres gained and offloads.
Itching to get back into the provincial season, things took a backwards step after he strained a knee playing for the New Zealand Barbarians against the Māori All Blacks.
Tamanivalu was not initially selected for the 2016 Rugby Championship, being replaced by Blues midfielder George Moala who was called in for the third Welsh test as injury cover.
Tamanivalu was again one of the competition's highest try-scorers, scoring his tenth of the season to open the 2017 Super Rugby Final against the Lions in Johannesburg on 5 August 2017.
After season-ending injuries to All Blacks wingers Nehe Milner-Skudder and Israel Dagg, Tamanivalu earned a re-call to international rugby for the 2017 end-of-year tour.
After starting his stint there with a niggling back injury[13] , he has primarily made bench appearances during the curtailed 2019-2020 Top 14 season and European Rugby Challenge Cup.