{"id":6132,"date":"2026-01-17T21:35:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T21:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=6132"},"modified":"2026-01-17T21:35:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T21:35:53","slug":"viliame-mata-bristol-bears-back-row-signs-one-year-contract-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=6132","title":{"rendered":"Viliame Mata: Bristol Bears back row signs one-year contract extension"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><b class=\"ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">Bristol number eight Viliame Mata has signed a one-year contract extension that will keep him at the club until 2027.<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The Fiji international has made 28 appearances for the Bears since joining the club from Edinburgh in 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Mata, 34, has scored 11 tries for Pat Lam&#8217;s side and has 38 international caps.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I&#8217;m very happy to extend my time here at Bristol Bears. From the moment I arrived, I felt the belief from the coaches, the players and the supporters,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;This club has big ambitions, and I want to be part of achieving something special.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Playing in front of the Bears fans at Ashton Gate is something I really enjoy, and I&#8217;m looking forward to what&#8217;s ahead.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Mata begin his career playing rugby sevens and won the gold medal with Fiji at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He then switched to XVs and made 138 appearances for Edinburgh, scoring 20 tries, in eight seasons playing in the Scottish capital.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bristol number eight Viliame Mata has signed a one-year contract extension that will keep him at the club until 2027. The Fiji international has made 28 appearances for the Bears since joining the club from Edinburgh in 2024. Mata, 34, has scored 11 tries for Pat Lam&#8217;s side and has 38 international caps. &#8220;I&#8217;m very<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rugby"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}