Tanginoa Palu Halaifonua (born 20 September 1996) is a Tongan 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.
Rugby career
Halaifonua, a back-rower and lock, is based in France and plays his rugby with
Stade Français
Stade Français Paris Rugby () is a French professional rugby union club based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The club plays in the Top 14 domestic league in France and is one of the most successful French clubs of the modern era. The ...
. He got his start in French rugby at
Lyon OU in 2017, later competing for
RC Massy
Rugby Club Massy Essonne is a French rugby union club from Massy, Essonne that play in Pro D2, the second tier of the French league system.
They are based in Massy, Essonne, in the southern suburbs of Paris and were founded in 1971. They were p ...
and
FC Grenoble
The Football Club de Grenoble Rugby (FCG) is a French rugby union club based in Grenoble and founded in 1892.
FCG was champion of France in 1954 and runner-up in 1918 and in 1993 during a controversial final, being deprived of the title of cham ...
, before joining Stade Français in 2023.
International
Halaifonua made his international debut for
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 ...
against Scotland at Murrayfield in 2021. He was a member of Tonga's team at the
2023 Rugby World Cup
The 2023 Rugby World Cup is scheduled to be the tenth men's Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It is scheduled to take place in France from 8 September to 28 October 2023 in nine venues across the cou ...
in France, appearing as a blindside flanker in three of their four group matches.
See also
*
List of Tonga national rugby union players
List of Tonga national rugby union players is a list of people who have played for the Tonga national rugby union team. The list only includes players who have played in a Test match.
Note that the "position" column lists the position at which ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halaifonua, Tanginoa
1996 births
Living people
Tongan rugby union players
Tonga international rugby union players
2023 Rugby World Cup players
Rugby union flankers
Rugby union locks
Tongan expatriate rugby union players in France
Lyon OU Rugby players
RC Massy players
FC Grenoble Rugby players
Stade Français Paris players