Sione Havili Talitui (born 25 January 1998) 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 who plays as a

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 ...

for in the

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Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

club

Moana Pasifika Moana Pasifika is a professional rugby union team based in New Zealand and made up of players from various Pacific Island nations as well as New Zealand or Australian born players of Pasifika heritage, including Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and the Cook I ...

and the Tongan national team.

Early life

In 2016 Havili represented the NZ Secondary Schools team, awarded the Golden Boot for the country's best player.

Club career

Havili made his

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) or miter (American English; see spelling differences; both pronounced ; ) is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in traditional Christianity. Mi ...

debut in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

for playing 2 games and scoring a try in the season. He made his debut for the during the

2018 Super Rugby season The 2018 Super Rugby season was the 23rd season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. After two seasons in which 18 teams participate ...

. He was loaned to Tasman for the

2018 Mitre 10 Cup The 2018 Mitre 10 Cup season was the thirteenth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 16, when North Harbour (National Provincial Championship), North ...

however his season was cut short by injury, but Tasman coach Andrew Goodman ensured he returned and Havili signed through with the Mako until the end of 2021. He was part of the Tasman Mako team that won the

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

for the first time. Following an outstanding season with Tasman Havili was named in the squad for the

2020 Super Rugby season The 2020 Super Rugby season was the 25th season of Super Rugby, the international men's rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR involving teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. It was the third tournament in i ...

. Havili was again part of the Mako side that won the

2020 Mitre 10 Cup The 2020 Mitre 10 Cup season was the 15th season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on September 11, when North Harbour (National Provincial Championship), North Har ...

, receiving Mako player of the year, Mako man of the year and defender of the year at the Mako awards. He was part of the side that won their fifth

title in a row with a 24–13 win over the in the 2021 Super Rugby Aotearoa final. In Round 3 of the

2021 Bunnings NPC The 2021 Bunnings NPC season was the 16th season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 6, when Manawatu hosted Counties Manukau. It involved the top 14 rugb ...

Havili suffered a season ending injury while playing for Tasman against . The Mako went on to make the premiership final before losing 23–20 to . In May 2022 he was named in the Tongan national side.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Havili Talitui, Sione New Zealand rugby union players 1998 births Living people Rugby union flankers Auckland rugby union players Blues (Super Rugby) players Tasman rugby union players Crusaders (rugby union) players Rugby union number eights Tonga international rugby union players Tongan rugby union players Moana Pasifika players 2023 Rugby World Cup players Rugby union players from Nukuʻalofa People educated at Auckland Grammar School