Pierre Hola (born 9 June 1978) is an Australia-born

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. He has represented

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 ...

and currently plays his club rugby in the Australian

Shute Shield The Shute Shield is a semi-professional rugby union competition in Sydney, Australia. It is the premier club competition in New South Wales. The Shute Shield is awarded to the winning team from the Sydney premiership grand final held at the end ...

for

Eastwood Eastwood may refer to: Places ;in Australia *Eastwood, New South Wales **Eastwood railway station **Electoral district of Eastwood *Eastwood, South Australia ;in Canada * Eastwood, Ontario *Eastwood, Edmonton, Alberta, a neighborhood ;in the Ph ...

Career

Hola made his debut for Tonga in September 1998 in a match against

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

, and has since earned 57 test caps, including representing Tonga at the

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 ...

in Australia where he was their top scorer and the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

. Other memorable moments was being the sole point scorer for Tonga vs The All Blacks and sending Canadian captain Al Charon unconscious off the field in his final match after accidentally knocking him out. He has scored 465 points for Tonga. He also holds for the most points scored in one match for Tonga (44) against South Korea which included 2 tries and 17 from 17 conversions (world record). He has represented Tonga in the

IRB Pacific 5 Nations The Pacific Nations Cup is an international rugby union competition held between three Pacific states: Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. The 2019 edition of the tournament will also include the national teams of Canada, Japan and United States. First held ...

where he was one of the players of the tournament for them as well as in the

2007 IRB Pacific Nations Cup The 2007 IRB Pacific Nations Cup was a rugby union competition held between six Pacific Rim sides; Australia A, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and the Junior All Blacks (New Zealand's second XV). This was the first year that Australia A had competed &n ...

2007 RWC

He was an integral part of Tonga's successful

rugby world cup 2007 The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 20 ...

campaign again being their top scorer kicking 44 points for the 2nd consecutive world cup tournament. A memorable moment for him came from the hard-fought 30-25 loss to the eventual champions South Africa. Trapped inside the Tongan 22, he launched an audacious cross field kick to set up a brilliant counterattack which resulted in one of the tries of the tournament (scored by

Viliami Vaki Viliami Vaki (born 27 April 1976) is a Tongan rugby union footballer. He represented Tonga at the 2003 Rugby World Cup and the 2007 Rugby World Cup. From 2003 to 2005 he played for Gran Rugby in Italy, then moved to USA Perpignan in the Top 14. He ...

Pacific Nations Cup

Hola was a late call-up for the Tongan team in the

2008 IRB Pacific Nations Cup The 2008 Pacific Nations Cup was a rugby union tournament held between six national sides on the Pacific Rim: Australia A, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and New Zealand Māori (just for this year). The inaugural competition was held in 2006. This y ...

. He would play in their 35-13 loss to Japan, 15-20 defeat to Samoa and 27-16 victory over Fiji. He has since been selected for the 2008

Pacific Islanders rugby union team The Pacific Islanders was a combined international rugby union team that played from 2004 to 2008. It represented Fiji, Samoa and Tonga; Niue and the Cook Islands also supplied players to the squad for their tour in 2004. The team did not play at R ...

to tour Europe in November playing games against France, England and Italy.

External links

IRB Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hola, Pierre 1978 births Australian rugby union players Australian sportspeople of Tongan descent Living people Rugby union players from Sydney Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union fly-halves Kobelco Kobe Steelers players Expatriate rugby union players in Japan Tonga international rugby union players Pacific Islanders rugby union players Tongan expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in Australia Expatriate rugby union players in Italy Tongan expatriate sportspeople in Australia Tongan expatriate sportspeople in Japan Tongan expatriate sportspeople in Italy