Polutele Tu'ihalamaka (born 10 September 1949) is a former Tongan rugby union footballer and a current coach. He played for Tonga for 14 years, from 1972 to 1987, including an historical win over

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 ...

, in 1973. He played at the

1987 Rugby World Cup The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches (17 pool stage matches, two quarter-finals, the third-place play-off and the final) while Australia hosted 11 ...

. He took office as coach of Tonga, in January 1999, and led the team to the

1999 Rugby World Cup The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was principally hosted by Wales, and was won by Australia. This was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's professi ...

finals, where they were eliminated in the 1st round.

External links

Profile of Polutele Tu'ihalamaka
1949 births Living people Tongan rugby union players Tongan rugby union coaches Tonga international rugby union players Rugby union locks Tonga national rugby union team coaches 1987 Rugby World Cup players {{Tonga-rugbyunion-bio-stub