Taufa'ao Filise (born 26 May 1977) is a

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 ...

n 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 who played over 250 games for the

Cardiff Blues 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 ...

. Filise was born in Malapo near Nuku’alofa. and attended

Tupou College Tupou College is a Methodist boys' secondary boarding school in Toloa on the island of Tongatapu, Tonga. It is located on the Eastern District of Tongatapu near the village of Malapo. The school is owned by the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga. Est ...

. He started his professional rugby career in 2000 with Bay of Plenty in the

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship (NP ...

. He was selected the following year for

, and would go on to represent

17 times, including playing at the 2007 and 2011 Rugby World Cups. Filise would also represent the

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 ...

in 2004 and 2006. He was picked up by the

Blues (Super Rugby) The Blues (; known as the Auckland Blues from 1996 to 1999) are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Auckland, who play in the Super Rugby competition. Like New Zealand's four other Super Rugby teams, the Blues were established b ...

for their 2005

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 ...

campaign, and 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, Bath, Rec ...

on a year contract following that. After his season with Bath, Filise moved to

for their 2006-2007 Celtic League campaign. He was part of the Cardiff teams that won the 2008–09 Anglo-Welsh Cup and the

2009–10 European Challenge Cup The 2009–10 Amlin Challenge Cup was the 14th season of the European Challenge Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from six nations in European rugby. It started on 8 October 2009 at Sixways Stadium in Worcester with W ...

. On 19 December 2015 he became the

most capped player with 183 first class appearances. He made his 250th appearance for the club on 31 December 2017. Filise finished his career playing for the

in the

Pro14 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 ...

. During his 13 years in Cardiff, Filise amassed 255 appearances, with 9 tries and became a cult figure earning the nickname "The king of Tonga". His final game for the club was the

European Rugby Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception i ...

final in

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

, which

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 ...

won 31-30.

References

External links

*
Cardiff profilePacific Island players in the Heineken CupKing of Tonga
1977 births Bay of Plenty rugby union players Cardiff Rugby players Tongan expatriate rugby union players in England Tongan expatriate rugby union players in New Zealand Tongan expatriate rugby union players in Wales Living people Pacific Islanders rugby union players Rugby union players from Tongatapu Rugby union props Tonga international rugby union players Tongan rugby union players 2007 Rugby World Cup players 2011 Rugby World Cup players Blues (Super Rugby) players Bath Rugby players {{Tonga-rugbyunion-bio-stub