Salesi Fili Finau (born Neiafu, 4 January 1972) is a former

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 ...

n-born

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 ...

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 played as flanker.

Career

Born in the island of Vava'u and educated at the

Homebush Boys High School ''(Latin for ''Upright and strong'') , established = 1936 , type = Public, secondary, single-sex, day school , free_label = Sister school , free_text = Strathfield Girls High School , principal = Kevin Elgood (2018) , address ...

, Finau first played for

West Harbour RFC The West Harbour Rugby Football Club is a team in the Shute Shield, the premier club rugby union football competition in New South Wales. The club is based in Concord, New South Wales, Concord in the Inner West of Sydney, and plays home matche ...

in 1990, before his debut for the New South Wales representative team, which was during a match against the ACT Kookaburras played in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

, in 1993. He also played two seasons for the Waratahs in the

Super 12 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 ...

International career

At international level, Finau debuted for the Australia Schoolboys XV which was touring in Britain and Europe in 1990. His debut for the

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...

was during the 1993 end of the year Australia tours in North America and Europe, although he played five uncapped matches for an Australian XV. His only test cap for Australia was during the third

Bledisloe Cup The Bledisloe Cup is an annual rugby union competition originally staged between the national teams of Australia's Wallabies and New Zealand's All Blacks that has been contested since the 1930s. The frequency that the competition is held has va ...

test against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, on 16 August 1997, replacing the injured flankers

Matt Cockbain Matt Cockbain (born 19 September 1972) is an Australian rugby union football coach and a former international player. He played over 60 tests for the national team, the Wallabies including winning the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Cockbain was an assis ...

and Daniel Manu as blindside flanker.

References

External links

Fili Finau international statistics
at

ESPN Scrum ESPNscrum was an online news site based in United Kingdom dedicate to providing the latest news in Rugby union. It provided live minute-by-minute updates on major international and club games and kept an in-depth statistics on every international ...

Fili Finau profile
at Itsrugby
Salesi Fili Finau profile
at

Rugby Australia Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named the Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It ...

Salesi Finau
at New Zealand Rugby History 1972 births Living people Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Rugby union players from Vavaʻu Rugby union flankers New South Wales Waratahs players Tongan emigrants to Australia {{Australia-rugbyunion-bio-stub