Salesi Finau (born 5 May 1973) is a Tongan former rugby footballer. He represented Tonga in both the

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

sides.

Background

Finau in Neiafu, Vava'u,

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

Rugby league career

Salesi began his career with the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

, and played in the

Tonga national rugby league team The Tonga national rugby league team ( to, timi līki ʻakapulu fakafonua ʻa Tonga) represents Tonga in rugby league football. They are currently the second ranked team in the world. The team was formed to compete in the 1986 Pacific Cup, an ...

at the 1995 World Cup. After impressing during the tournament he signed for

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warringto ...

in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of ...

Rugby union career

Club

In late 1998 Finau signed for Welsh rugby union side Llanelli Scarlets under coach Gareth Jenkins. Finau made 203 appearances for the side over the next six-year, becoming an instrumental team player, playing in 3 European Cup semi-finals and 2 Celtic League Titles, before ending his contract by mutual consent in September 2005. He then signed for

Bath Rugby Bath Rugby is a professional rugby union club in Bath, Somerset, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Founded in 1865 as Bath Football Club, since 1894 the club has played at the Recreation Ground in th ...

under John Connolly, spending a season at the West Country club before moving to French side

Bourgoin Bourgoin-Jallieu (; frp, Brégon) is a commune in the Isère department in the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in France. The city had 28,834 inhabitants in 2019 and lies 35 kilometres east-southeast of Lyon. It was formed by the merger of th ...

. Finau had a successful season at Bourgoin, and on completion announced that he had signed a 2-year contract for

Cornish Pirates The Cornish Pirates ( kw, An Vorladron Gernewek) are a professional rugby union team who play in the Championship, the second level of the English rugby union pyramid, and are the premier Cornish rugby club. Formerly known as Penzance & Newly ...

. However, in June 2007, the club announced that they had agreed to release Finau from the deal when a family illness obliged him to return to his native Tonga.

Country

Finau received at least 13 caps for the Tongan national rugby union side, and played in the Tongan rugby sevens side at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

TV career

Salesi currently presents a cooking show on Television Tonga called 'Salsa with Salesi'.

References

People from Vavaʻu Canberra Raiders players Tongan rugby league players Warrington Wolves players Tonga national rugby league team players 1973 births Living people Tongan rugby union players Tonga international rugby union players Dual-code rugby internationals Tongan expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in England Expatriate rugby union players in Wales Tongan expatriate sportspeople in England Tongan expatriate sportspeople in Wales {{Tonga-rugbyunion-bio-stub