Pierre Hola (born 9 June 1978) is an Australian-born former

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. He 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 ...

and played club rugby in the Australian

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 ...

for Eastwood.

Career

Hola made his debut for Tonga in September 1998 in a match against

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

, and has since earned 57 test caps, including representing Tonga at the

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 ...

in Australia where he was their top scorer and the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup () was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by F ...

. In 2016, he began playing for the Helensvale Hogs.

2007 RWC

He was an integral part of Tonga's successful

rugby world cup 2007 The 2007 Rugby World Cup () was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by Fr ...

campaign, again being their top scorer kicking 44 points for the 2nd consecutive world cup tournament. A memorable moment for him came from the hard-fought 30-25 loss to the eventual champions South Africa. Trapped inside the Tongan 22, he launched a cross field kick to set up a counterattack which resulted in one of the tries of the tournament (scored by Viliami Vaki).

Pacific Nations Cup

Hola was a late call-up for the Tongan team in the

2008 IRB Pacific Nations Cup The 2008 Pacific Nations Cup was a rugby union tournament held between six national sides on the Pacific Rim: Australia A, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and New Zealand Māori (just for this year). The inaugural competition was held in 2006. This ...

. He would play in their 35-13 loss to Japan, 15-20 defeat to Samoa and 27-16 victory over Fiji. He has since been selected for the 2008

Pacific Islanders rugby union team The Pacific Islanders was a combined international rugby union team that played from 2004 to 2008. It represented Fiji national rugby union team, Fiji, Samoa national rugby union team, Samoa and Tonga national rugby union team, Tonga; Niue Rugby Un ...

to tour Europe in November, playing games against France, England and Italy.

References

External links

IRB Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hola, Pierre 1978 births Australian rugby union players Australian sportspeople of Tongan descent Living people Rugby union players from Sydney Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union fly-halves Kobelco Kobe Steelers players Australian expatriate rugby union players in Japan Tonga international rugby union players Pacific Islanders rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in Italy Tongan expatriate rugby union players in Japan Tongan expatriate sportspeople in Italy 2003 Rugby World Cup players Eastwood Rugby Club players West Harbour RFC players Rugby Viadana players