Lopeti Timani (born 28 September 1990) is a Tongan professional

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 plays as a

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

for

United Rugby Championship 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 ...

club

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

and the Tonga national team.

Early life

Lopeti Timani was born in the Tongan village of Navutoka. His older brothers Sione Timani and Sitaleki Timani are both international rugby players. He attended Tonga College 'Atele on Tonga. In 2008 he was selected for Tonga's under-20s rugby world championship team at the age of 17, but could not play because of the minimum age limit of 18 imposed by the International Rugby Board. At age 18 he moved to Australia and switched codes, playing

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 ...

for the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilitated by ...

in the

NRL 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 ...

's Toyota Cup competition in 2009 and 2010.

Professional career

In 2011, Timani returned to rugby union, joining the Junior Waratahs professional squad where he played in the

Pacific Rugby Cup The World Rugby Pacific Challenge, formerly the IRB Pacific Rugby Cup, is an annual rugby union football tournament held in Oceania since 2006. It is contested by national 'A' teams (formed from the best locally based players, with most not alre ...

. He played for the

Southern Districts Rugby Club Southern Districts Rugby Club is a rugby union club based in southern Sydney. The club currently competes in the New South Wales Rugby Union competition the Shute Shield. The club was formed by the amalgamation of the St George and Port Hackin ...

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 ...

, where he developed his ability to play at lock in addition to the back row. He signed an extended player squad contract with the Waratahs for the 2012 season, and made his Super Rugby debut against the

Reds Reds may refer to: General * Red (political adjective), supporters of Communism or socialism * ''Reds'' (film), a 1981 American film starring and directed by Warren Beatty * Reds (January Uprising), a faction of the Polish insurrectionists duri ...

in round one. He played against the British & Irish Lions in 2013. Timani signed with the

Melbourne Rebels The Melbourne Rebels were an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria that competed in the Super Rugby competition. The Rebels made their debut in SANZAAR, SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. T ...

for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. In 2016, Timani debuted for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

against Argentina in Perth before getting his run on debut against Argentina at Twickenham Stadium in London. This was seen as Timani's break out game as he continued as starting no.8 for his next 4 appearances. Timani recommitted to

Rugby until 2019 turning down lucrative offers form Europe. In August 2018, Timani travels to France to join

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

side

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

ahead of the 2018-19 season. Lopeti played for La Rochelle for the 2018-2019, 2019-2020 & 2020-2021 seasons. La Rochelle made the final of the European Challenge Cup & the semi-final of the Top 14 in 2018-2019 season. In the 2020-2021 season La Rochelle made the final of the European Championship Cup & the final of the Top 14. Timani has signed with

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

in the Top 14 for the 2021-2022 season. In June Timani debuted for the Tonga sevens team at the Monaco Sevens tournament alongside Malakai Fekitoa, transferring his international affiliation from Australia to Tonga. On 6 November 2021 Timani made his test debut for Tonga in a 69-3 defeat by

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 ...

as part of the

2021 Autumn Nations Series The 2021 end of year rugby union tests, also referred to as the Autumn internationals in the Northern Hemisphere, were rugby union test matches during October and November 2021, mainly involving countries from the Northern Hemisphere hosting those ...

On 27 April 2022, Timani and

Cardiff Rugby Cardiff Rugby () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms Park. Originally formed in 1876, from 2003 to 2021 the first team was known as the Cardiff Blues before rebranding back ...

confirmed that the number-8 will play for the URC team from the 2022-23 season onwards.

Career statistics

Club summary

References

External links

Rebels Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Timani, Lopeti 1990 births Living people Tongan emigrants to Australia Australian rugby union players Tongan rugby union players Rugby union number eights Rugby union flankers New South Wales Waratahs players Melbourne Rebels players Melbourne Rising players Australia international rugby union players Tonga international rugby union players Rugby union locks Stade Rochelais players Australian expatriate rugby union players in France RC Toulon players Cardiff Rugby players Tongan expatriate rugby union players in Wales 21st-century Australian sportsmen