Tony Tatupu

Tony Tatupu
Personal information
Full name Kuripitone Tatupu
Born (1969-07-26) July 26, 1969
New Zealand
Height 190cm
Weight 98kg
Playing information
Position centre, second-row
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
Mt Albert Lions
1994 North Harbour 23 9 0 0 26
1995–1996 Auckland Warriors 27 6 0 0 24
1997 Warrington Wolves
1998–1999 Auckland Warriors 40 4 0 0 16
2000–2001 Wakefield Trinity 21 2 0 0 8
Total 111 21 0 0 74
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1991–1994 Auckland 12
1990–2000 Western Samoa 6 2 0 0 8
1994–1995 New Zealand 4 0 0 0 0
Source: Rugby League Ptoject

Kuripitone "Tony" Tatupu is a former New Zealand rugby league player. Tatupu played at Centre and in the Second Row and represented both New Zealand and Western Samoa. Tatupu is the uncle of North Queensland Cowboys centre Matthew Wright (rugby league).

Playing career

Tony first played for the Mt Albert Lions in the Auckland competition before joining the North Harbour Sea Eagles for the 1994 Lion Red Cup season. Between 1991 and 1993 he played 12 games for Auckland.[1] From there he joined the Auckland Warriors for their inaugural season in the Australian Rugby League competition. Along with Nigel Vagana he joined the Warrington Wolves in the Super League competition in 1997 before returning to the Warriors for another two seasons.

In 2000 he returned to England to finish his career at the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats. He stayed with the club during a time of financial turbulence mid way through the 2000 season which saw all players over 24 released and then re-signed on limited wages.

Representative career

He represented Samoa at two World Cups and two Pacific Cups. He was named in the 1992 Pacific Cups team of the tournament.

Later years

He now serves as a New Zealand Police officer and represented the New Zealand Police at the inaugural Police World Cup.[2][3]

Tatupu's son Shem has been signed by Australian Football League (AFL) club Hawthorn as an international rookie.[4]

References

  1. Richard Becht. A New Breed Rising: The Warriors Winfield Cup Challenge. Auckland, HarperCollins, 1994. ISBN 1-86950-154-3. p.183
  2. Kiwis hold off gallant Aussie police outfit Sunshine Coast Daily, 13 November 2008
  3. Getting it on - Station of Origi warriors.co.nz, Accessed 13 July 2009
  4. Worthington, Sam. "Wayne Schwass tips Kiwis to make AFL impact". Stuff.co.nz. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 12 May 2013.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, March 28, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.