Quinn Puketahinga Claude Tupaea (; born 10 May 1999) is a New Zealand 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 plays as a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

for New Zealand province

Waikato Waikato () is a Regions of New Zealand, local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton City ...

. In his youth career, he was selected to play in the 2019

World Rugby Under 20 Championship The World Rugby Under 20 Championship (known as the IRB Junior World Championship until 2014) is an international rugby union competition. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, World Rugby, and is contested by 12 men's junior nat ...

s for

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and took part in

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 gi ...

first XV, the top representative team in secondary school.

Early life

Quinn Tupaea was born on 10 May 1999 in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

, the son of Brent and Kelly Tupaea. He attended

Southwell School Southwell School, is an independent co-educational Anglican boarding and day school set in 32 acres of park like grounds in central Hamilton, New Zealand. Southwell offers education to children aged 5 to 13 years. A number of international stud ...

and

Professional career

Waikato

In May 2018,

signed Tupaea for their 2018 Mitre 10 Cup season at 19 years old. He made his first professional team debut when he made the match-day fifteen at

during the opening match against Manawatu at

Central Energy Trust Arena Central Energy Trust Arena is the current name of the 180,000 square metre publicly owned recreational complex just west of the Palmerston North city centre in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. It has three linked indoor stadiu ...

. Tupaea became a regular starter, starting in eleven from twelve appearances and scoring seven tries. He also was a part of Waikato's historic

Ranfurly Shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challeng ...

victory over

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

and their impressive top of the table finish. Tupaea finished sixth equal as leading try scorer in the

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 ...

, including scoring a brace of tries against

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runawa ...

and Northland. At seasons end, he achieved championship success after defeating

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

in order to gain promotion back into the top division and was awarded Emerging Player of the Year at the Waikato Rugby awards. In an ultimately disappointing

2019 Mitre 10 Cup The 2019 Mitre 10 Cup season was the fourteenth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 8, when Southland hosted Northland. It involved the top fourtee ...

season for

, in which the team narrowly avoided relegation to the Championship, Tupaea was a standout player for both Waikato and among all of the Mitre 10 Cup players. He proved to be one of the most consistently high performing centres in the competition, finishing 5th on the try-scoring table, with 7 tries in 9 games.

Chiefs

On the back of the 2019 Mitre 10 Cup season, Tupaea was announced in the Chiefs

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 ...

squad for the 2020 Super Rugby season, at the age of 20.

International career

Tupaea made his international debut for on 3 July 2021 against

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 ...

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Statistics

Updated: 12 June 2022 Source:''
Quinn P C Tupaea Rugby History
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List of international test tries

Updated: 12 June 2022 Source:''

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References

External links

*
Quinn Tupaea
at

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 ...

.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Tupaea, Quinn 1999 births New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union centres Living people Waikato rugby union players Chiefs (rugby union) players New Zealand international rugby union players Rugby union players from Hamilton, New Zealand