He was part of the Wellington U19 team that finished fifth at the Jock Hobbs Memorial National U19 tournament in 2015.[7]
League
In 2012 and 2013, 'Apikotoa played for the Wellington Orcas U17 team. He was named the Wellington Orcas 17s Player of the Year and Junior Player of the Year in 2013.[8] A year later, he played for the premier Wellington Orcas squad.[5]
While still at school, he signed a 2-year contract with Melbourne Storm (starting in November 2014), but in December 2014 he already returned home to New Zealand and from then on focused on playing rugby.[5][6]
Senior career
While he was not named in the Wellington Lions squad for the 2015 ITM Cup season, 'Apikotoa played 5 games off the bench for them that year. He made his Wellington debut on 15 August 2015 against Taranaki.[4] 'Apikotoa was named in the Wellington Lions squad in 2016[9] and 2017[10] and played 22 games for the province.
In search for more game time, he moved to Hawke's Bay the following year and was named in the Magpies squad for the 2018 Mitre 10 Cup season.[12][13] He played 11 games for the province, that year.
In 2019, 'Apikotoa played a preseason game for the Highlanders, but it didn't result in a further call-up by the franchise.[14]
Later that year, 'Apikotoa had a brief stint in Spain, where he played 9 games for the Basque club Ordizia RE that competes in the Spanish División de Honor de Rugby.[15] He returned home before the end of their season, to look for playing opportunities in New Zealand.[16]
He went back to Hawke's Bay and was named in the Magpies squad for the 2020 Mitre 10 Cup season.[17] During that season, the Magpies won the Ranfurly Shield (taking it off Otago),[18] were successful in three more Ranfurly Shield defences (against Northland, Manawatu and Wellington), and won the Mitre 10 Cup Championship, thus securing a well-deserved promotion to the Premiership division.[19] The Magpies held on to the Shield during the entire 2021 Bunnings NPC season, winning all six Ranfurly Shield defences.[20]
After a successful 2020 season with the Magpies, while not named in the initial Chiefs' squad for the 2021 Super Rugby season, 'Apikotoa was signed by the franchise as an injury replacement.[21] He made his Super Rugby debut for the Chiefs on 20 March 2021 against the Hurricanes and played 5 games for the side, that year.[22]
On 9 November 2021, Moana Pasifika announced that the new franchise had signed 'Apikotoa for the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season.[3] On 4 March 2022, he made his debut for the new franchise – off the bench – in their inaugural Super Rugby game against the Crusaders.[23] He scored his first Super Rugby try in Moana Pasifika's second game of the season, against the Chiefs, on 19 March 2022.[24] He played two seasons for the franchise.