Aisea Havili Kaufusi (born 11 March 1977) is a Tongan

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 ...

footballer, who currently played most recently as a winger for the

Cornish Pirates The Cornish Pirates () are a professional rugby union team who play in the RFU Championship, Championship, the second level of the English rugby union pyramid, and are the premier Cornish rugby club. The Cornish Pirates team are the 'First XV' o ...

National Division One The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...

as well as for the Tonga national team.

Club career

Havili began his rugby career in his home country of

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

, before eventually moving to Wales to play for

Bridgend Bridgend (; or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in the Bridgend County Borough of Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge over the River Og ...

. Upon the advent of regional rugby in Wales in 2003, he joined the Celtic Warriors, whom he played for until they were disbanded in 2004. He was picked up by the

Llanelli Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby com ...

soon afterwards and became the top try scorer in his first season in West Wales However, in 2005,

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

showed an interest in Havili and he was released from his contract after just one year with the Scarlets so that he could sign for the West Midlands club. Havili's first season at

went well, scoring a total of ten tries in just 16 appearances. After not making a single appearance in the 2007–08 season, it was announced in May 2008 that Havili would be leaving

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors are a professional rugby union club based in Worcester, England. They most recently played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby union, before being suspended by the Rugby Football Union, RFU in September 2 ...

to sign for

side

. Havili provided

with an alternative style of winger. His physical presence set him apart from most backs within the squad. Perhaps his most noticeable performance came against Plymouth Albion the league in December 2009 where he his try help complete a 46–7 win. At the end of the 09/10 season Havili left the Cornish Pirates before returning to

International career

Havili has had an erratic international career, having earned only nine caps for the Tonga national team. He was selected for the Tonga

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England national rugby union team, England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispu ...

squad, but pulled out after being told that he would have to pay his own way to Australia to join up with the rest of the squad. Havili was, however, still selected for the 2007 World Cup.

References

External links

Profile
at WRFC.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Havili, Aisea 1977 births Living people Rugby union wings Tongan rugby union players Scarlets players Worcester Warriors players Bridgend RFC players Tonga international rugby union players Birmingham & Solihull R.F.C. players Tongan expatriate rugby union players in England Tongan expatriate rugby union players in Wales Rugby union players from Tongatapu 2007 Rugby World Cup players