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Rugby Union In Tonga
Rugby union is the national sport of Tonga. Tonga are considered to be a tier 2 rugby nation by the International Rugby Board. Tonga has four main rugby playing islands, Vava'u (which produced players like Epi Taione), Ha'apai (which produced players like Jonah Lomu), ʻEua (which produced the Vunipola family, eight brothers who all played for the national team), and Tongatapu the major island in the Tonga island group. Governing body Rugby union is governed by the Tonga Rugby UnionBath, p75 who are also members of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance. Tonga were awarded 'second tier' status by the International Rugby Board which entitles them to funding from the IRB. The TRFU was founded in 1923, and joined the IRB, in 1987. History Rugby union was brought to the region in the early 20th century by sailors and missionaries. The main impetus for the establishment of rugby in Tonga came from the Irish missionaries in the 1920s, who introduced it to Tupou College and Ton ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sipi Tau
The kailao is a cultural dance from the South Pacific country of Tonga. It originates from Wallis and Futuna. History The kailao originated on the island collectivity of Wallis and Futuna, where it is still performed in public ceremonies. In Tonga it is performed at public and private ceremonies. The men, bearing stylized clubs (pate kailao), dance in a fierce manner that emulates fighting, to the accompaniment of a beaten slit drum or tin box which sets the tempo. Unlike most other Tongan dances, it is performed without singing. The sequences of movements are called by the lead dancer, who calls out the names of the sequences and signals when to do them. They can involve mock combat between dancers, changes in formation, and tricks involving the pate kailao themselves. The moves display the dancers' discipline, obedience, and skills with their weapons. A similar Rotuman dance, also derived from the 'Uvean original, is similarly called the ''ka'loa''. The 'Ikale Tahi, the Tonga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tupou College
Tupou College is a Methodist boys' secondary boarding school in Toloa on the island of Tongatapu, Tonga. It is located on the Eastern District of Tongatapu near the village of Malapo. The school is owned by the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga. Established in 1866 by James Egan Moulton, it claims to be the oldest secondary school in the Pacific Islands. Enrolment is some 1,000 pupils. Tupou College was first established at Nuku'alofa at the location on which Queen Salote College stands today. From there it moved to Nafualu, Sia'atoutai on the site where Sia’atoutai Theological College now stands. In 1948, the school last moved to Toloa in the Eastern District of Tongatapu where it still stands today. Tupou College's brother school is Newington College, located in Sydney, Australia. Rev Moulton was the founding headmaster of both Newington College and Tupou College. Missionary A. Harold Wood was Principal from 1924 to 1937, during which time the school expanded from 30 studen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malakai Fekitoa
Malakai Fonokalafi Fekitoa (born 10 May 1992) is a Tongan professional rugby union player who plays as a centre for United Rugby Championship club Benetton and the Tonga national team. Early life Fekitoa was born in Haʻapai, Tonga. The son of a carpenter and Meleane Fekitoa, he is the eighth of eight boys and seven girls. After playing for Tonga 7s on a tour of New Zealand, he was offered a rugby scholarship and enrolled at Wesley College. Club career Fekitoa made his debut for in the ITM Cup in 2012, making 12 appearances and scoring 3 tries, and was signed by the for the 2013 season. He only made one appearance in 2013 for the Blues against France, and signed with the Highlanders for the 2014 Super Rugby season. He was a key member of the Highlanders title winning-side in 2015. In July 2017, Fekitoa confirmed that he had signed a two-year contract with French Top 14 side Toulon. In January 2019, it was announced that Fekitoa had signed for English Premiership ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Israel Folau
Israel ‘Isileli Folau (; born 3 April 1989) is a professional dual-code rugby player who plays as a fullback for Japan Rugby League One club Urayasu D-Rocks. Born in Australia, he represents Tonga at international level after qualifying on ancestry grounds. Folau began his professional career playing rugby league. Representing the Melbourne Storm in the National Rugby League (NRL) from 2007 to 2008, where he broke the record for most tries in a debut year. He then played with the Brisbane Broncos from 2009 to 2010. Playing as a or , Folau represented Queensland in the State of Origin and Australia, becoming the youngest player to play for both teams. In 2020, Folau played for the French rugby league team the Catalans Dragons in the Super League. In 2011, Folau joined the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL) and played for two seasons. In December 2012, Folau announced he was to switch codes again, this time for rugby union, and signed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands—Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu—and List of islands of Japan, thousands of smaller islands, covering . Japan has a population of over 123 million as of 2025, making it the List of countries and dependencies by population, eleventh-most populous country. The capital of Japan and List of cities in Japan, its largest city is Tokyo; the Greater Tokyo Area is the List of largest cities, largest metropolitan area in the world, with more than 37 million inhabitants as of 2024. Japan is divided into 47 Prefectures of Japan, administrative prefectures and List of regions of Japan, eight traditional regions. About three-quarters of Geography of Japan, the countr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiji National Rugby Union Team
The Fiji national rugby union team represents Fiji in men's international rugby union. Fiji competed in the Pacific Tri-Nations and now competes in its successor tournament Pacific Nations Cup. Fiji also regularly plays test matches during the June and November test windows. They have beaten the major rugby playing sides of Wales, Scotland, Australia, France, Italy, Argentina and England. The only major sides Fiji are yet to beat are New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland. The "Flying Fijians" as they are nicknamed compete every four years at the Rugby World Cup. Their best performances were the 1987, 2007 and 2023 tournaments when they defeated Argentina, Wales and Australia respectively to reach the quarterfinals. Fiji is one of the few countries where rugby union is the main sport. There are approximately 80,000 registered players from a total population of around 950,000. One obstacle for Fiji is simply getting their rugby players to play for the national team, as many have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samoa National Rugby Union Team
The Samoa national rugby union team represents Samoa in men's international rugby union competitions. They are governed by Samoa Rugby Union and also known as "Manu Samoa", which is thought to derive from the name of a Samoan warrior. They perform a traditional Samoan challenge called the siva tau before each game. Samoa Rugby Union were formerly members of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA) along with Fiji and Tonga. They are ranked 13th in the world. Rugby was introduced to Samoa in the early 1920s and a governing body was soon formed. The first international was played as Western Samoa against Fiji in August 1924. Along with Tonga, these nations would meet regularly and eventually contest competitions such as the Pacific Tri-Nations – with Western Samoa winning the first of these. From 1924 to 1997 Samoa was known as Western Samoa. Samoa have been to every Rugby World Cup since the 1991 tournament. That tournament, along with the 1995 competition, saw them ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polynesia
Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in common, including Polynesian languages, linguistic relations, Polynesian culture, cultural practices, and Tradition, traditional beliefs. In centuries past, they had a strong shared tradition of sailing and Polynesian navigation, using stars to navigate at night. The term was first used in 1756 by the French writer Charles de Brosses, who originally applied it to all the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, islands of the Pacific. In 1831, Jules Dumont d'Urville proposed a narrower definition during a lecture at the Société de Géographie of Paris. By tradition, the islands located in the South Seas, southern Pacific have also often been called the South Sea Islands, and their inhabitants have been called South Sea Islanders. The Hawai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viliami Ofahengaue
Viliami Ofahengaue (born 3 May 1968 in Kolofoou, Tonga), widely known as Willie O, is a former rugby union player who earned 41 caps for the Australian Wallabies from 1990 to 1998, and played in the World Cups of 1991 and 1995 as well as the 1993 World Cup Sevens. Ofahengaue attended Tupou College Toloa in Tonga. He was included in Toloas 1st XV team that was undefeated throughout all the secondary schools in Tonga, it was after his years at Tupou College Toloa where he had the opportunities to travel around Australia and New Zealand through rugby. Ofahengaue moved to stay with relatives in Auckland to complete his education at Seddon High School and he was selected to play for New Zealand Schoolboys in 1988 and participated in a tour to Australia. However, on the return trip, he was refused re-entry to New Zealand with his Tongan passport so he moved to Australia. It was while playing for the Manly Rugby Club that he was selected for the NSW and Australian teams. He scored ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Zealand National Rugby Union Team
The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for their international success, the All Blacks have often been regarded as one of the most successful sports teams in history. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 Rugby World Cup, 1987, 2011 Rugby World Cup, 2011, and 2015 Rugby World Cup, 2015, second only to South Africa's Springboks, who have won the Rugby World Cup four times. They were the first country to retain the Rugby World Cup. Since their international debut in 1903, the All Blacks have played test match (rugby union), test matches against 19 nations, of which 12 have never won a game against the team. New Zealand has a 76 per cent winning record in test match rugby, and has secured more wins than losses against every test opponent. The team has also played against three multin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hong Kong Sevens
The Hong Kong Sevens ( zh, t=香港國際七人欖球賽, link=no) is a rugby sevens tournament held annually in Hong Kong on a weekend in late March or early April. Considered the premier tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Series competition, the Hong Kong Sevens is currently the fifth tournament on the World Series calendar (following the Canada Sevens). The tournament spans three days, beginning on a Friday and concluding on Sunday. The tournament is organised each year by the Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was cancelled in 2020 and 2021. The latest Hong Kong Rugby Sevens was held from 28 to 30 March 2025 at Kai Tak Stadium. History The season-ending Blarney Stone Sevens had traditionally been a part of the game’s program in Hong Kong, but HKRFU was affiliated to the RFU and internationally the game was controlled by the rugby powers. The Scottish Centenary at Easter 1973 had been a recent international Sevens tournam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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. Rugby sevens is administered by World Rugby, the body responsible for rugby union worldwide. The game is popular at all levels, with amateur and club tournaments generally held in the summer months. Sevens is one of the most well distributed forms of rugby, and is popular in parts of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and especially in the South Pacific. Rugby sevens originated in the 1880s in the Scottish town of Melrose, Scottish Borders, Melrose; the Melrose Sevens tournament is still played annually. The popularity of rugby sevens increased further with the development of the Hong Kong Sevens in the 1970s and was later followed by the inclusion of the sport into the Commonwealth Games for the first time in 1998 and the establishmen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
