Wycliff Palu (born 27 July 1982), known as Cliffy Palu, is an Australian former 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 ...

footballer of

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 descent. He played for the

New South Wales 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, ...

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 ...

and represented in 58 tests.

Early life

Palu was born in Sydney. His mother was Keta Iongi, a Tongan sprinter who won several gold medals at the

South Pacific Games The Pacific Games (French: Jeux du Pacifique), is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from Oceania. The inaugural Games took place in 1963 in Suva, Fiji, and most recently in 2019 in Apia, Samoa. The Games were ...

. He attended

Balgowlah Boys High School The Balgowlah Boys Campus of Northern Beaches Secondary College is a government-funded single-sex comprehensive secondary day school for boys only, located in Balgowlah, a suburb on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. ...

Career

A hard running backrow player Palu made his provincial debut in a match against a Samoan side in 2003 after which he had a stint at NRL side

St. George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint-ve ...

before returning to Rugby Union. He played for the New South Wales Waratahs in their first trial match of pre-season 2005, against the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

, in which he was awarded the man-of-the-match award. After his good performances during the Waratahs' pre-season, he made his

Super 12 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 ...

debut in week one of the 2005 season against the Chiefs. He was then injured in the week six loss against the Crusaders which saw him out for a lot of the season. Palu sustained a shoulder injury midway through the

2006 Super 14 season The 2006 Super 14 season started on 10 February 2006. The Grand Final was held on 27 May 2006. Super 14 is a provincial rugby union competition with 14 teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. This season was the first of the expansion, ...

, as he came off the bench in a semi-final against the

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

. Palu was then included in the Wallabies' 2006 mid-year squad. Palu was named at number eight for the opening Tri-Nations match against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

on 18 July 2009, after he recovered from a hand injury which forced him to miss all of Australia's matches earlier in the year. Palu suffered a knee-ligament injury against the Crusaders in April 2010, then a

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupeds, ...

injury during trials in early 2011. He spent eleven months in recovery, and played only six Super Rugby matches for the Waratahs in the 2011 season. He played in two pool matches for Australia at the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...

in New Zealand but a recurrence of his hamstring injury playing against the ruled him out of the remainder of the tournament. He returned to the Wallabies for a successful season in 2012, starting at Number 8 for the three-nil test series win against and Australia's drawn match in Brisbane against before test wins against , and on the 2012 end-of-year tour. Palu started in all three home tests against the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

in 2013, with the series being won by the visitors by two matches to one. He played a further ten matches for Australia, including one at the

2015 Rugby World Cup The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was onl ...

, making his last appearance against England in June 2016 to take his total to 58 tests. The following month Palu completed the twelfth and final season of his career with the Waratahs, which had included starting at Number 8 for the team's

title-winning season in 2014. He joined Japanese club

Toyota Verblitz Toyota Verblitz is a Japanese rugby union team in the Japan Rugby League One. Verblitz is a portmanteau of ''verde'' (Spanish and Portuguese for 'green') and ''blitz'' (German for 'lightning'). The team is owned by Toyota Motor Corporation and is ...

for his last professional club contract in 2016 and 2017.

Controversies

In late 2009 during the drawn Test between Ireland and Australia, Palu was given a yellow card by the South African referee Jonathan Kaplan for allegedly making a shoulder charge on Rob Kearney, Ireland's fullback. However, it's suggested Kearney in fact made the shoulder charge on Palu whilst carrying the ball.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Palu, Wycliff 1982 births Australian rugby union players Australian rugby league players Australian people of Tongan descent Australia international rugby union players New South Wales Waratahs players Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights Rugby union players from Sydney Living people Toyota Verblitz players Australian expatriate rugby union players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate rugby union players in Japan