Tevita Hale Nai Tu'uhoko, often known simply as Hale T-Pole or Hale T Pole, (born 30 April 1979) is a Tongan

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 it ...

footballer who plays as a flanker or number eight for the

Ricoh Black Rams Black Rams Tokyo (formerly Ricoh Black Rams) is a Japanese rugby union team in the Japan Rugby League One. Placed 10th in the 2004-2005 season which meant it had to win a play-off against one of the top regional teams to stay in the league, as it d ...

in the

Top League Japan Rugby League One (formerly the Top League) is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the ...

in Japan. He has also played internationally 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 ...

and the

Pacific Islanders Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of Oce ...

Playing career

New Zealand

An impressive talent from a young age, T-Pole was selected to national secondary school sides and made his provincial rugby debut with Otago in 1999. He transferred to

Southland Southland may refer to: Places Canada * Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia New Zealand * Southland Region, a region of New Zealand * Southland County, a former New Zealand county * Southland District, part of the wider Southland Re ...

in 2000, and quickly became a core member of the squad. He would go on to score 16 tries in 60 appearances for the Stags. After several strong seasons with Southland, T-Pole made his debut for the Highlanders in the

2004 Super 12 season The 2004 Super 12 season was the ninth season of the Super 12, contested by teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The season ran from February to May 2004, with each team playing all the others once. At the end of the regular season ...

. After making only three appearances in his first two seasons with the Highlanders, he emerged as a regular in 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, ...

, appearing in 10 of 13 matches including 5 starts. In the

2007 Super 14 season The 2007 Super 14 season started in February 2007 with preseason matches held from mid-January. It finished on 19 May with the final at ABSA Stadium in Durban, in the first final between two South African teams in the history of Super Rugby. Th ...

, T-Pole was limited to 6 substitute appearances for the Highlanders, although he did manage to score his first and only Super Rugby try, against the Stormers on 24 February. T-Pole's last matches for Southland were the first two rounds of the 2007 Air New Zealand Cup, after which he departed for the 2007 Rugby World Cup and then Europe. T-Pole will return to New Zealand in 2012 and play for Northland in the ITM Cup.

Europe

T-Pole left New Zealand to sign with Ospreys for the 2007–08 Celtic League season, joining the squad after the 2007 Rugby World Cup. However, he endured a difficult season in Wales, making only 7 appearances before leaving in 2008.

Japan

T-Pole signed with Suntory Sungoliath of the

in Japan in 2008, and spent two seasons with the club. For the 2010–11 season, he signed with the

Return to New Zealand

In June 2012, it was announced that T-Pole had signed for Northland for the

2012 ITM Cup 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

season. On 25 August 2012, he made his Northland debut against Otago.

Sri Lanka

Hale T-Pole has signed for Sri Lankan Premier Championship side, Havelock Sports Club, for the 2013–14 Rugby Season. He will be a player/coach for the club from Sri Lanka's Capital Colombo. He will join Tongan National teammate Willie Hakala who played for Havelock SC last year.

International career

T-Pole represented New Zealand at the under-21 level but never received a senior callup to the

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, ...

. He was selected to the

Pacific Islanders rugby union team The Pacific Islanders was a combined international rugby union team that played from 2004 to 2008. It represented Fiji, Samoa and Tonga; Niue and the Cook Islands also supplied players to the squad for their tour in 2004. The team did not play at R ...

which toured Europe in 2006, and selected again for the same tour in 2008. T-Pole scored a try on his debut for

against

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

on 10 February 2007, and was selected to the Tongan squad for the 2007 Rugby World Cup. However, his World Cup was blighted by a red-carding in a match 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 and Apolima); ...

on 16 September. After the World Cup, T-Pole continued as a regular member of the Tongan side until 2009.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:T-Pole, Hale 1979 births Living people Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights Tongan rugby union players Ospreys (rugby union) players Highlanders (rugby union) players Tokyo Sungoliath players Southland rugby union players Northland rugby union players Otago rugby union players Black Rams Tokyo players People from Tongatapu Tonga international rugby union players Pacific Islanders rugby union players Tongan expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in Japan Expatriate rugby union players in Wales Expatriate rugby union players in New Zealand Tongan expatriate sportspeople in Japan Tongan expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Tongan expatriate sportspeople in Wales