Danny Toala (born 26 March 1999) is a professional

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 ...

player, who currently plays as a midfield back or

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

for in

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 previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

. He was born and raised in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, but has represented

Manu Samoa The Samoa national rugby union team (also known as Manu Samoa) represents Samoa in men's international rugby union and it is governed by the Samoa Rugby Union. They are also known as Manu Samoa, which is thought to derive from the name of a Samo ...

internationally, for which he is eligible due to his Samoan heritage.

Early career

Danny Toala attended

Hastings Boys' High School Hastings Boys' High School is a boys' secondary school in Hastings, New Zealand. The school is part of the Super 8. The school was founded in 1904 as Hastings High School. In 1922, it became Hastings Technical School under the leadership of Wi ...

, where he played First XV rugby alongside future teammates Devan Flanders,

Folau Fakatava Folau Fakatava (born 16 December 1999) is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays as a scrum-half for the in Super Rugby and in New Zealand's domestic National Provincial Championship competition. Early career Fakatava was born in Nuk ...

, Lincoln McClutchie and

Kianu Kereru-Symes Kianu Kereru-Symes (born 28 February 1999) is a New Zealand rugby union player, who currently plays as a hooker or Prop for in New Zealand's domestic National Provincial Championship competition and the New England Free Jacks in Major League ...

. He helped his team to two National Top 4 finals, narrowly losing the first 13 – 14 to

Mount Albert Grammar School Mount Albert Grammar School, commonly known as MAGS, is a co-educational state secondary school in Mount Albert in Auckland, New Zealand. It teaches students in year levels 9 to 13. , Mount Albert Grammar School is the second largest school in ...

in 2016, but winning the second a year later against

Hamilton Boys' High School Hamilton Boys' High School is a boys' secondary school in Hamilton, New Zealand and is the largest secondary school in the Waikato region. The school was established as Hamilton High School in 1911 but was later split into separate boys' and gir ...

25 to 17 after an undefeated season. Both in 2016 and 2017, Toala was named in the Hurricanes U18 squad.

Senior career

On 7 August 2017, the

Hawke's Bay Rugby Union The Hawke's Bay Rugby Union (HBRU) is the governing body of rugby union in the Hawke's Bay Region, Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand. The union is based in Napier, New Zealand, Napier. The Hawke's Bay representative team are nicknamed ''The M ...

announced that four players of that year's successful Hastings Boys' High School First XV side, including Danny Toala, had signed with the union for the 2018 and 2019

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in t ...

seasons. Toala made his Magpies debut on 30 September 2018 against Canterbury. He has since re-signed with Hawke's Bay for 2020 and 2021. Although he had played just four games for the Magpies, the announced on 24 April 2019 that they had signed Toala until 2021, considering him "a real stand-out for the Hurricanes Hunters and Under-20 sides". On 3 June 2019, Toala was called into the Hurricanes squad as an injury replacement for their game against the in South Africa. He made his debut for the Hurricanes on 9 June 2019 in Johannesburg and earned his first Super Rugby start a week later against the in Wellington. Due to being given limited playing opportunities, Toala only played four games for the Hurricanes during his 3 years at the franchise. On 26 October 2021,

Moana Pasifika Moana Pasifika is a rugby union team made up of players from various Pacific island nations as well as New Zealand or Australian born players of Pasifika heritage, including Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands. The team was originally creat ...

announced that the new franchise had signed Toala for the

2022 Super Rugby Pacific season The 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season (known as Harvey Norman Super Rugby Pacific in Australia and DHL Super Rugby Pacific in New Zealand) is the 27th season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams fr ...

. He made his debut for his new team in their inaugural

game on 4 March 2022 against the .

International career

In 2016, following his first successful First XV season playing for

, Toala was named in the

New Zealand Barbarians The New Zealand Barbarians, nicknamed the "Baa-Baas", are an invitational rugby union team. They have been a part of New Zealand rugby since the team was founded in 1937 by two ex-All Blacks, Ronald Bush and Hubert McLean, who captained their f ...

Schools' team that played matches against Australian Schools and Fiji Schools. He scored a try in both games. The following year, Toala was named in the New Zealand Secondary Schools team for a three-match international series in

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 ...

. He played in two games, including a 34 – 11 victory over Australian Schools, and kicked nine conversions. Toala was a member of the New Zealand Under-20 side that competed in the

2019 Oceania Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2019 Oceania Rugby Under 20s, was the fifth edition of the Oceania Rugby Junior Championship. returned to the Championship tournament for the first time since 2015, replacing from the previous year and joining , , and hosts for the three ...

. On 2 June 2022, Toala – who is of Samoan descent – was named in the

squad for the first time. He made his international debut on 2 July 2022 against Australia A in their first game of the 2022 Pacific Nations Cup, which they won 31–26.

Reference list

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Toala, Danny 1999 births Living people People educated at Hastings Boys' High School New Zealand rugby union players Samoan rugby union players Samoa international rugby union players Rugby union fullbacks Hurricanes (rugby union) players Hawke's Bay rugby union players Moana Pasifika players Rugby union players from Hastings, New Zealand 2023 Rugby World Cup players