Tevita Tu'ifua (born 15 October 1975) 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 ...

coach and former player who plated

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

and

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

. He is the current head coach of the Tongan national team having previously coached the national 7s side, who he also represented as a player.

Playing Career

Born in Nomuka, Tonga, Tuʻifua played primarily as a wing and centre. He earned 15 caps for the Tongan national team between 2003 and 2007, scoring 20 points through four tries. He debuted on 4 July 2003 in a match against

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

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and later went on to represent Tonga in two Rugby World Cups, participating in three matches in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

and four matches in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. He also played internationally for the Tonga 7s side, playing in 12 events on the

World Rugby Sevens Series The SVNS, known as the HSBC SVNS for sponsorship reasons, is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World ...

from 2002 and 2007, debuting during the 2003 Brisbane Sevens. He also represented Tonga during the

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. At the club level, he played for

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from 2003 before moving to Counties Manukau in 2005 and later

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in 2008. His provincial career in New Zealand included 19 games, during which he scored a total of 55 points. Prior to his provincial career, Tuʻifua played amateur rugby for Te Papapa Onehunga and Karaka, before ending with Mt Wellington RFC in 2009. Tuʻifua also represented Tonga at international Rugby League level.

Coaching Career

After retiring from playing, Tuʻifua transitioned into coaching, firstly as the defence coach for Tonga 7s from 2012, before becoming the head coach in 2018. As head coach, he led Tonga 7s in two World Rugby Sevens Series events during the 2018–19 season, and in the inaugural

World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series The World Rugby Sevens Challenger (formerly the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series) is an annual series of rugby sevens tournaments for national teams run by World Rugby that includes men's and women's events. Sponsored by banking group HSBC, i ...

in 2020. He also led the side to the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England betw ...

(finishing in 11th place) and the

2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the eighth and final edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens organised by World Rugby. The 2022 tournament, comprising 24 men's and 16 women's teams as previously, was played over three days in one venue in Sep ...

(finishing in 20th place). Despite performances on the world stage in 2022, Tonga later went onto to become champions of the Challenger Series in

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. In 2024, Tuʻifua was appointed as the new head coach of the national team at 15s level, replacing

Toutai Kefu Rodger Siaosi Toutai Kefu (born 8 April 1974) is a Tongan-Australian professional rugby union coach and former player who has been coaching the Tonga national team since 2016. Kefu acquired 60 test caps while primarily playing the position of ...

who had been in post since 2016. This was not the first time Tuʻifua had been involved in coaching at 15s, having been assistant coach to

Mana Otai K. Manakaetau F. 'Otai (born 21 September 1968) is coach of the Tonga national rugby union team, Tonga national team (''ʻIkale Tahi'' (''Sea Eagles'')). He was educated at St Peter's College, Auckland and played club rugby in Auckland. His play ...

during the 2015 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup, seeing Tonga finish third, and the

2015 Rugby World Cup The IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was ...

.TONGA ANNOUNCES 2015 RUGBY WORLD CUP SQUAD
/ref> Tuʻifua's first campaign in charge was winless home series during the 2014 July tests, with losses to

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and the

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. His first win came in September against

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(30–17) to see the Ikale Tahi finish in fifth place during the

2024 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup The 2024 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup was the sixteenth World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup, Pacific Nations Cup (PNC) tournament and the first with a new format design. Similar to the 2019 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup, 2019 tournament, the same ...

. Tonga later went on to lose all their games during the November tests, losing to

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and

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References

External links

Sporting Heroes ProfileTevita Tuifua at New Zealand Rugby HistoryCommonwealth Games 2022 team resources
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tu'ifua, Tevita 1975 births Living people Rugby union props Tongan rugby union players Tonga international rugby union players Rugby union players from Haʻapai 2003 Rugby World Cup players 2007 Rugby World Cup players Auckland rugby union players Counties Manukau rugby union players Coaches at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century Tongan sportsmen