Daniel Tonga Faleafa (born 13 February 1989) 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 ...

player. He plays in the

flanker Flanker may refer to: * Flanker (perfume), a newly created perfume sharing attributes of an existing one * Flanker (rugby union), a position in rugby union (not found in rugby league) * ''Su-27 Flanker'' (video game), a 1996 computer game modelin ...

and occasionally lock position for the

Western Sydney Two Blues Western Sydney Two Blues Rugby, formerly Parramatta Two Blues Rugby, is a rugby union club based in Parramatta, which is commonly regarded as the second CBD of Sydney, Australia. The club was formed in 1879 and competes in the Shute Shield ru ...

in the

Shute Shield The Shute Shield, currently known as the Charter Hall Shute Shield, is a semi-professional rugby union competition in Sydney, Australia. It is the premier club competition in New South Wales. The Shute Shield is awarded to the winning team fro ...

. Faleafa also represented

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 ...

at international level.

Early years

Daniel Faleafa attended Mt Roskill Grammar School and Mount Albert Grammar School in Auckland. He played for the

New Zealand national schoolboy rugby union team The New Zealand Schools rugby union team, commonly referred to as the New Zealand schoolboys rugby team, is composed of secondary school students in New Zealand. In 1980 the New Zealand schoolboys rugby team had their first overseas tour, to Aus ...

in 2007.

Playing career

Daniel Faleafa is a powerful and athletic backrower who is very adept at playing lock due to his brilliant lineout ability. He started off as a member of the Auckland Rugby Academy and in 2009 was a key member of the

New Zealand national under-20 rugby union team The New Zealand national under-20 rugby union team, nicknamed the Baby Blacks, is the representative rugby union team from New Zealand. It replaced the two former age grade teams, the under-19s and the under-21s. Their first tournament was the ...

that won the

2009 IRB Junior World Championship The 2009 IRB Junior World Championship (known as the 2009 IRB Toshiba Junior World Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the second annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams, this competition replaces the now de ...

. Daniel joined Northland in on loan in 2009 where he played 1 ITM Cup game before returning to Auckland to make another 2 ITM Cup appearances that same season. Faleafa joined Northland full-time from 2010 and made 15 appearances over the next three seasons. Faleafa signed on as Captain of the

for the 2024

season.

International career

Faleafa is a former New Zealand representative at Secondary School and Under-20 level. In 2013 he was named to play for Tonga in the

2013 IRB Pacific Nations Cup The 2013 Pacific Nations Cup rugby union tournament was held between five national sides in the Pacific Region: Canada, Fiji, Japan, Tonga, and USA. Samoa were the reigning champion after they defeated Fiji in the 2012 competition but took the y ...

References

External links

* * 1989 births Living people New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union players from Auckland New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent Tonga international rugby union players Colomiers Rugby players Rugby union flankers Rugby union locks 2019 Rugby World Cup players Randwick DRUFC players Tongan expatriate rugby union players in France Coventry R.F.C. players SC Albi players Tongan expatriate rugby union players in England New Zealand expatriate rugby union players Auckland rugby union players Northland rugby union players People educated at Mount Albert Grammar School {{Tonga-rugbyunion-bio-stub