Kyle Tonetti (born 8 October 1987) is a South Africa born former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player, who represented Ireland at various international levels. He primarily played as a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

, though he also played at

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

earlier in his career. He last played for Irish provincial team

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

in the

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

before being forced to retire prematurely due to injury.

Career

Club

Tonetti started out his senior club career at

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

after coming through the prestigious

Blackrock College Blackrock College () is a voluntary day and boarding Catholic secondary school for boys aged 13–18, in Williamstown, Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland. It was founded by French missionary Jules Leman in 1860 as a school and later became al ...

and playing in the All-Ireland League for the college's team. He made only 1 appearance for the senior Leinster team in the 2008-09 Celtic League, and 2 appearances in the 2009–10 competition, while making no European appearances. Tonetti also made 21 appearances for the province's second tier side Leinster A. He left Leinster in 2010, joining Premiership side

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom. Its team play in Premiership Rugby, and have been in England's top division of rugby union continuously since 1995. Originally founded in 1861 as ...

. Tonetti made his debut for Sale against the

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

on 3 September 2010. He scored his first try for the team in a match against Harlequins on 17 September, as the Sharks won 21–17. He also played in the 2010-11 European Challenge Cup for Sale, making his first European appearance on 11 December 2010 against

Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of ), commonly known as simply Brive, is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglome ...

, and also played them in the return game on 20 December. On 22 January 2011, Tonetti scored his first European try, crossing the line against

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

. In total Tonetti made 13 appearances in the 2010–11 Premiership along with his 3 Challenge Cup appearances scoring a try in each competition. His final appearance for Sale came against

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

on 17 September 2011, taking his total appearances in the Premiership for the side to 14. Tonetti left the Sharks at the start of the 2011–12 season, joining Irish province

. This reunited him with his former coach

Eric Elwood Eric Elwood is a former Irish rugby union player from Galway. He played as a fly-half. He played for Ireland internationally, and provincially for Connacht. He was on the Coláiste Iognáid team that won the Connacht Schools Rugby Senior Cup ...

, who Tonetti had played under with the 2007 Ireland Under-20 team. He made his debut for Connacht against Benetton Treviso on 2 December 2011. Tonetti's next game for the province came in the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

, where he played for Connacht in their Pool 6 match at home to

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

. He played against Harlequins, starting at outside centre in a 9–8 win, Connacht's first ever victory in the competition. By the end of the season, Tonetti had made 16 appearances for Connacht, 12 in the Pro 12, and 4 in the Heineken Cup. Tonetti was forced to retire from rugby on 19 March 2014 due to a long-standing ankle injury.

International

Despite being born in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

, South Africa, Tonetti played at a number of under-age levels for Ireland, including Under-19 and Under-20 level. He was a part of the Ireland Under-20 squad that achieved a

grand slam Grand Slam or Grand slam may refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category terminology originating in contract bridge and other whist card games Athletics * Grand Slam Track, professional track and field league Auto racing * ...

in the

2007 Six Nations Under 20s Championship The Six Nations Under 20s Championship is an international rugby union tournament. It is the under-20s equivalent of the Six Nations Championship. Originally the tournament was in an under-21 format but changed to under-20s in 2008. England ...

. Tonetti has also played for the Irish sevens team, the national team for

Rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

. He was part of the Irish squad for the 2009 Sevens World Cup.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tonetti, Kyle South African rugby union players Connacht Rugby players Living people South African expatriate rugby union players in Ireland South African expatriate rugby union players in England Sale Sharks players 1987 births Leinster Rugby players Ireland international rugby sevens players People educated at Blackrock College 21st-century South African sportsmen Rugby union players from Durban