Clinton James Te-Whata Toopi (born 29 February 1980) is a New Zealand former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

and

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 played in the 2000s and 2010s. A New Zealand international representative , he played his club football in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

for the

New Zealand Warriors The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...

and the

Gold Coast Titans The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership, Australia's elite rugby league competition. Since 2008, the ...

, and in the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

for the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home games at Headingley Rugby Stadium, AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby lea ...

. Clinton began coaching the Helensvale Hornets in 2021 and guided them to victory in the 2022 Gold Coast A Grade Competition.

Rugby league career

Toopi was born in

Stratford, New Zealand Stratford () is the only town in Stratford District, New Zealand, Stratford District, and the seat of the Taranaki region, in New Zealand's North Island. It lies beneath the eastern slopes of Mount Taranaki, approximately halfway between New P ...

, and began his career playing

with the junior ranks of the Mt Wellington and

Otahuhu Leopards The Otahuhu Leopards are a rugby league club based in Ōtāhuhu, Auckland. Founded in 1911 Auckland Rugby League season, 1911, the club has produced 49 New Zealand national rugby league team players. The club competes in the Fox Memorial compet ...

clubs. He played for Auckland South in the 1999 provincial competition. His

first grade First grade (also 1st Grade or Grade 1) is the first year of formal or compulsory education. It is the first year of elementary school, and the first school year after kindergarten. Children in first grade are usually 6–7 years old. Examples ...

career began with the then

Auckland Warriors The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...

, débuting against the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

on 2 May 1999. He went on to play 119 games for the club, including the 2002 NRL Grand Final loss to the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

. In 2000 Toopi was part of the Aotearoa Maori side that played at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

. Toopi represented New Zealand on twelve occasions between 2001 and 2005. Toopi played for the Kiwis 14 times. He scored three tries in one match against Australia in the 2005 Tri Nations. On 31 May 2006

announced the capture of Toopi for the 2007 season as a replacement for Chev Walker. On 17 July he was granted an early release from the New Zealand Warriors so he could join the Rhinos for the rest of the season, this was granted the day before the deadline to register players in Super League. He made his début on 4 August 2006 against Hull FC.

Rugby union career

On 23 August 2008 Leeds released Toopi, due to a knee reconstruction that would keep him out of action for 9 months. He attracted interest from the Japanese rugby union club Sanyo Wild Knights, and expressed interest in joining the

Manly Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League seaso ...

in the

competition however he did not secure a contract. Toopi instead returned to New Zealand and switched to

, joining the Whakatane Marist team in the Eastern Bay

competition. On 18 June 2009 it was announced that he had made the

Bay of Plenty Rugby Union The Bay of Plenty Rugby Union (''also referred to as "Bay of Plenty" or "BOPRU"'') is the governing body for rugby union in a portion of the Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand. Its colours are dark blue and yellow in a hooped design. The BOPR ...

's squad for the

Air New Zealand Cup An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

. He agreed to join the Gold Coast Titans for 2010.

Return to league

During the 2010 pre-season Toopi trialed with the

. He did enough to impress management and earn a one-year contract. This was later extended for the 2011 season. He retired at the end of 2011. Toopi again played for the New Zealand Māori in 2010, captaining the side against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Match Fit

In 2023, Toopi participated in season 3 of ''Match Fit'', where former rugby players return to play against the Australian counterparts. He joined in the first season that featured former

stars. On episode 3, he revealed he currently resides in

Gold Coast, Australia The Gold Coast, also known by its initials, GC, is a coastal city and region in the state of Queensland, Australia, located approximately south-southeast of the centre of the state capital, Brisbane. It is Queensland's second-largest city a ...

. Throughout the first third of the 15-week program, his heart rate kept topping out even though he feels no ill effects, which suggest he has lower than expected aerobic endurance, he thought it was due to

jet lag Jet lag is a temporary physiological condition that occurs when a person's circadian rhythm is out of sync with the time zone they are in, and is a typical result from travelling rapidly across multiple time zones (east–west or west–east). ...

. In 2024, he returned for ''Match Fit: Union vs. League''. While Pita Alatini and

Carlos Spencer Carlos James Spencer (born 14 October 1975) is a former New Zealand rugby union player and previously the head coach of the and the . He is currently an assistant coach for the New Orleans Gold of Major League Rugby (MLR). During his playing ...

went -15 for metabolic age vs. biological age for the best possible result, he,

Lesley Vainikolo Lesley Paea 'I'muli Vainikolo (born 4 May 1979) is a former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer. A dual code international, he has played for the New Zealand Kiwis in rugby league and England in rugby union. He began his care ...

and Henry Fa'afili started out +15, which is the worst possible result. He admitted he didn't take last season seriously enough until he went -15 for metabolic age for the second initial test in a row. During the IronMaori Triathlon, he was paired in the swim leg with Louis Anderson despite being scared of swimming in open water.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at leedsrugby
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toopi, Clinton 1980 births Living people 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Auckland rugby league team players Bay of Plenty rugby union players Burleigh Bears players Gold Coast Titans players Leeds Rhinos players Mount Wellington Warriors players New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league team captains New Zealand Māori rugby league team players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand Warriors players Otahuhu Leopards players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Stratford, New Zealand Rugby union players from Stratford, New Zealand