Aisea Havili Kaufusi (born 11 March 1977) is a Tongan

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

footballer, who currently played most recently as a winger for the Cornish Pirates in National Division One as well as for the Tonga national team.

Club career

Havili began his rugby career in his home country of

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 ...

, before eventually moving to

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

to play for

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge ...

. Upon the advent of regional rugby in

in 2003, he joined the Celtic Warriors, whom he played for until they were disbanded in 2004. He was picked up by the

Llanelli Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup (which ...

soon afterwards and became the top try scorer in his first season in West

However, in 2005,

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...

showed an interest in Havili and he was released from his contract after just one year with the Scarlets so that he could sign for the West Midlands club. Havili's first season at

went well, scoring a total of ten tries in just 16 appearances. After not making a single appearance in the 2007–08 season, it was announced in May 2008 that Havili would be leaving Worcester Warriors to sign for National Division One side Cornish Pirates. Havili provided Cornish Pirates with an alternative style of winger. His physical presence set him apart from most backs within the squad. Perhaps his most noticeable performance came against Plymouth Albion the league in December 2009 where he his try help complete a 46–7 win. At the end of the 09/10 season Havili left the Cornish Pirates before returning to

International career

Havili has had an erratic international career, having earned only nine caps for the Tonga national team. He was selected for the Tonga

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

squad, but pulled out after being told that he would have to pay his own way to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

to join up with the rest of the squad. Havili was, however, still selected for the 2007 World Cup.

References

External links

Profile
at WRFC.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Havili, Aisea 1977 births Living people Rugby union wings Tongan rugby union players Scarlets players Worcester Warriors players Bridgend RFC players Tonga international rugby union players Birmingham & Solihull R.F.C. players Tongan expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in England Expatriate rugby union players in Wales Tongan expatriate sportspeople in England Tongan expatriate sportspeople in Wales People from Tongatapu