Samuela H. S. "Semi" Taupeaafe (born in Nuku'alofa, on 29 July 1972）is a

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 former

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. He played as wing and centre.

Career

He represented

in rugby union,

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 rugby sevens, and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

at the

COBRA Rugby Tens COBRA 10s is the world's premier rugby tens tournament which is organized annually by the COBRA Rugby Club of Malaysia. The tournament is held each November at the MBPJ Stadium in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. The first COBRA 10s tournament was held ...

, He is one of the rare players to play for three national teams. At the 1995 COBRA Rugby Tens, he led Japan to the final, lost against the

Māori All Blacks The Māori All Blacks, previously called the New Zealand Maori, New Zealand Maoris and New Zealand Natives, are a rugby union team from New Zealand. They are a representative team of the New Zealand Rugby Union, and a prerequisite for playing i ...

. In 2005, Taupeaafe was part of the Ikale Tahi management team, along with Sione Petelo, Tevita Vaʻenuku and Nafe Tufui.

Club career

At club level, Taupeaafe played for the

NSW Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby competition. The Riverina and other southern parts of the state ...

, then for

Sanyo , stylized as SANYO, is a Japanese electronics company and formerly a member of the Fortune Global 500, ''Fortune'' Global 500 whose headquarters was located in Moriguchi, Osaka, Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo had over 230 subsidiari ...

and later for Tokyo Gas Rugby Club.

International career

At international level, he debuted for Tonga on 11 June 1991, during the test match against

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

, in Suva. Although not taking part at the

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in Sou ...

, he would be called up later for 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 ...

Tonga squad. At the tournament, he played 3 matches. His last cap was 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 ...

, on 29 June 2001, in Nuku'alofa. He also represented Australia for the

1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens was held at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, Scotland, in April 1993. This tournament was the inaugural Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament. The International Rugby Board invited the established rugby union nations but als ...

References

External links

Semi Taupeaafe 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 ...

Semi Taupeaafe profile
at New Zealand Rugby History Living people 1972 births Japan international rugby union players Tonga international rugby union players Saitama Wild Knights players Rugby union wings Tongan expatriate sportspeople in Australia Tongan expatriate sportspeople in Japan Rugby union centres 1999 Rugby World Cup players Manly RUFC players {{Tonga-rugbyunion-bio-stub