Soane Tonga'uiha (born 21 January 1982) is a

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 ...

n-born, New Zealand-educated,

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 ...

player and coach. He plays for

Chinnor Chinnor is a large village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire about southeast of Thame, close to the border with Buckinghamshire. The village is a spring line settlement on the Icknield Way below the Chiltern escarpment. Since 1932 the civi ...

and internationally for

. His position of choice is loose-head prop, although he sometimes plays at tight-head. He is known for his large size and fierce runs.

Club career

Tonga’uiha moved from Tonga to Auckland, New Zealand with his family at the age of eight. At first, in Auckland, he played rugby league. He played rugby union from the age of 15 when he went to

St Peter's College, Auckland , seal_image = , image = St Peter's College, Auckland; Bro O'Driscoll Building.JPG , image_size = 270px , caption = St Peter's College (Bro. O'Driscoll Building, 2009) (constructed 1939) , motto = la, Amare et Servire , m ...

the same Catholic school attended by

Pat Lam Patrick Richard Lam (born 29 September 1968) is a rugby union coach and former player. He is currently Director of Rugby at Bristol Bears in England's Premiership Rugby. Born in New Zealand, he represented New Zealand in schools and under-21 ...

who also taught there. In his final year at school, in 2000, the team went through the season undefeated, winning the Auckland

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

and the New Zealand First XV Knock out competition. The team was inspired by

. In 2001, Tonga’uiha joined the Ponsonby rugby club in Auckland.where he was selected for the Auckland Colts side, playing one game against Japan. Tonga’uiha was selected for the Auckland team in 2002 and 2003, playing 12 games and scoring one try. He first made his break at

Bedford Blues Bedford Blues are a rugby union club in the town of Bedford, England, currently playing in The RFU Championship. Bedford is one of the few towns in England where the rugby club is better supported than the football team. The Blues are a semi-pr ...

as he shone in the 2005/06 season, helping Bedford to a second-place finish behind rugby giants Harlequins, and a Powergen Trophy final place. This, combined with his mobile aggressive ball-carrying, caused

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...

to consider using him. He had also scored a try against Saints in Northampton's victory over

in the

Powergen Cup The RFU Knockout Cup was an English rugby union competition open to any member of the Rugby Football Union. First contested in 1971, it was the premier competition in English club rugby before the establishment of the English league structure in 1 ...

game in December 2004. Tonga'uiha moved to

at the start of the 2006/07 season and at first – being behind

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

and

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

legend Tom Smith- did not have too many starts in the

Guinness Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

. However, in the 2007/08 season, when Saints found themselves in National League 1, he excelled and earned a number of first team appearances as

cruised towards promotion at the end of the season. This upward trend in performances continued into the 2008/09 season when – combined with Tom Smith's move towards coaching – Tonga'uiha cemented his place in the match-day squad and has had his fair share of appearances in the starting XV. Tonga'uiha became something of a crowd favourite at

Franklin's Gardens Franklin's Gardens (currently known for sponsorship purposes as cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens) is a purpose-built rugby stadium in Northampton, England. It is the home stadium of Northampton Saints. The stadium holds 15,249 people. The f ...

with the nickname 'Tiny' – an ironic take on his size. On 27 January 2010, it was announced that Tonga'uiha would join

Saracens upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...

at the start of the 2010/11 season. However, in April 2010, he changed his mind and signed a new three-year contract with the Saints. Soane Tonga'uiha left the Saints at the end of the season 2012–2013 to join the

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 French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

Paris club Racing Metro. On 16 May 2014, Soane left Racing Metro to join Top 14 rivals

Oyonnax Oyonnax () is the second most populated commune in the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. Oyonnax lies in a valley of the Jura Mountains in the far north of Ain. It is near the Parc naturel régional du H ...

from the 2014–15 season. On 30 June 2016, Tonga'uiha returned to England to join new

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is th ...

side

Bristol Rugby Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 18 ...

on a two-year deal, prior to the 2016–17 season. He was released by Bristol in April 2018. Shortly after Tonga'uiha took up a player/coach role at

Ampthill RUFC Ampthill Rugby Club is an English rugby union team based in Ampthill, Bedfordshire. The club runs six senior teams and the full range of junior sides. The first XV play in the RFU Championship, the second tier of the English rugby union system ...

. Ampthill were promoted to the Championship at the end of the 2018–19 season. In August 2020 it was confirmed that Tonga'uiha had signed for

National League 1 National One (last season known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Leagu ...

side

as a player/coach.

International career

New Zealand

Tonga’uiha played for the New Zealand under 19 team in 2001, winning the World Cup. In 2003, he was selected for the New Zealand under 21 team and again won the applicable age grade World Cup.

Tonga

Tonga'uiha's international career began in 2004 with selection to the newly formed

Pacific Islanders rugby union team The Pacific Islanders was a combined international rugby union team that played from 2004 to 2008. It represented Fiji, Samoa and Tonga; Niue and the Cook Islands also supplied players to the squad for their tour in 2004. The team did not play at ...

, a composite team made up of the best players from Samoa, Fiji and Tonga. His career stalled after that as being a professional playing in Europe restricted him from summer tests for his native Tonga. His sights had been firmly set on the 2007 Rugby World Cup to be held in France – ensuring his and other seasoned professionals playing Europe's participation. In 2007, he travelled to France as part of the Tongan national rugby team to take part in the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to ...

, playing in all four games as Tonga upset the form book, beating the US and arch rivals Samoa and pushing eventual winners South Africa and runners-up England all the way. By the end of the tournament, Tonga'uiha had seven caps for Tonga. Tonga'uiha was again part of his country's World Cup squad for the 2011 event, starting in three and featuring in all four of Tonga's matches, including the impressive 19–14 win in their final game over runners-up

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

References

External links

Northampton profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tonga'uiha, Soane Northampton Saints players Bedford Blues players Bristol Bears players Racing 92 players Oyonnax Rugby players Auckland rugby union players Tongan rugby union players 1982 births Living people People educated at St Peter's College, Auckland Tonga international rugby union players Pacific Islanders rugby union players Tongan emigrants to New Zealand Tongan expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in England Tongan expatriate sportspeople in England People from Tongatapu Ampthill RUFC players Rugby union props