Clinton James Te-Whata Toopi (born 29 February 1980) is a New Zealand former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

and

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 played in the 2000s and 2010s. A New Zealand international representative , he played his club football in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

for the

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

and the

Gold Coast Titans The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australia and New Zealand's national rugby league club competition. The ...

, and in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

for the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...

. Clinton began coaching the Helensvale Hornets in 2021 and guided them to victory in the 2022 Gold Coast A Grade Competition.

Rugby league career

Toopi was born in

Stratford, New Zealand Stratford ( mi, Whakaahurangi) is the only town in Stratford District, New Zealand, Stratford District, and the seat of the Taranaki region, in New Zealand's North Island. It lies beneath the eastern slopes of Mount Taranaki, approximately halfw ...

, and began his career playing

with the junior ranks of the Mt Wellington and

Otahuhu Leopards The Otahuhu Leopards are a rugby league club based in Otahuhu, Auckland. Founded in 1911 Auckland Rugby League season, 1911, the club has produced 49 New Zealand national rugby league team players. The club competes in the Fox Memorial competit ...

clubs. He played for Auckland South in the 1999 provincial competition. His

first grade First grade (also called Grade One, called ''Year 2'' in England or Primary 2 in Scotland) is the first grade in elementary school and the first school year after kindergarten. Children are usually 6–7 years old in this grade. Examples by r ...

career began with the then

Auckland Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

, débuting against the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen pla ...

on 2 May 1999. He went on to play 119 games for the club, including the

2002 NRL Grand Final The 2002 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2002 NRL season. It took place on Sunday, 6 October 2002, at Sydney's Telstra Stadium. 80,130 people saw the Sydney Roosters beat the New Zealand Warriors 30–8. T ...

loss to the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

. In 2000 Toopi was part of the Aotearoa Maori side that played at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

. Toopi represented New Zealand on twelve occasions between 2001 and 2005. Toopi played for the Kiwis 14 times. He scored three tries in one match against Australia in the 2005 Tri Nations. On 31 May 2006

announced the capture of Toopi for the 2007 season as a replacement for

Chev Walker Chev Walker (born 9 October 1982) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who last played for the Bradford Bulls in the Championship. He played both rugby league and rugby union professionally. A Great Britain and England inte ...

. On 17 July he was granted an early release from the New Zealand Warriors so he could join the Rhinos for the rest of the season, this was granted the day before the deadline to register players in Super League. He made his début on 4 August 2006 against Hull FC.

Rugby union career

On 23 August 2008 Leeds released Toopi, due to a knee reconstruction that would keep him out of action for 9 months. He attracted interest from the Japanese rugby union club

Sanyo Wild Knights Saitama Wild Knights (formerly Panasonic Wild Knights) is a Japanese rugby union team formerly based in Ōta city, Gunma prefecture which plays in the Top League. Inspired by Tony Brown at fly half (though he was not captain), it dominated the l ...

, and expressed interest in joining the

Manly Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

in the

competition however he did not secure a contract. Toopi instead returned to New Zealand and switched to

, joining the Whakatane Marist team in the

Eastern Bay The Eastern Bay is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay located between Queen Anne's County, Maryland and Talbot County, Maryland on the Eastern Shore. Its main tributaries include the Miles River and the Wye River. It is located south of the Ches ...

competition. On 18 June 2009 it was announced that he had made the

Bay of Plenty Rugby Union The Bay of Plenty Rugby Union (''also referred to as "Bay of Plenty" or "BOPRU"'') is the governing body for rugby union in a portion of the Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand. Its colours are dark blue and yellow in a hooped design. The BOP ...

's squad for the

Air New Zealand Cup The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

. He agreed to join the Gold Coast Titans for 2010.

Return to league

During the 2010 pre-season Toopi trialed with the

. He did enough to impress management and earn a one-year contract. This was later extended for the 2011 season. He retired at the end of 2011. Toopi again played for the New Zealand Māori in 2010, captaining the side against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

.Maori draw with England
''New Zealand Herald'', 16 October 2010

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at leedsrugby
1980 births Living people Auckland rugby league team players Bay of Plenty rugby union players Burleigh Bears players Gold Coast Titans players Leeds Rhinos players Mount Wellington Warriors players New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league team captains New Zealand Māori rugby league team players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand Warriors players Otahuhu Leopards players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Stratford, New Zealand Rugby union players from Stratford, New Zealand {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-stub