Sitaleki Timani (born 19 September 1986), is a

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

n-born,

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

footballer. He made his test debut for the

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...

in 2011. His usual position is

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

. Timani's professional club career spanned eight seasons of

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

in France and seven seasons of

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 has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

in Australia. He currently plays for the

RC Toulonnais Rugby Club Toulonnais (), also referred to as Rugby Club Toulon or simply Toulon, is a French professional rugby union club based in Toulon and competing in the Top 14. Located on the French Riviera, in the Provence region, the club plays its h ...

in the

Family and early life

Sitaleki Timani was born in the Tongan village of Kolonga. His brothers Sione and Lopeti are both international rugby players. Timani played soccer until he attended Tonga College 'Atele and was introduced to rugby union. He was selected for the Tongan Schoolboys rugby team in 2003, and won a scholarship to attend

Auckland Grammar School Auckland Grammar School (often simplified to Auckland Grammar, or Grammar), established in 1869, is a State school, state, Day school, day and Boarding school, boarding secondary school for Single-sex education, boys in Auckland, New Zealand. ...

in New Zealand. He moved to Australia at the age of 19 and switched codes, playing

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

for

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Sutherland Shire of Southern Sydney, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. Cronulla compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugb ...

in the

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

's Jersey Flegg competition in 2006, and in

NSW Premier League The National Premier Leagues NSW is a semi-professional soccer competition in New South Wales, Australia. The competition is conducted by Football NSW, one of the two organising bodies in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier Lea ...

in 2007.

Rugby union career

In August 2007, Timani returned to rugby union, playing for Perth Spirit in the Australian Rugby Championship. He was selected for all Perth Spirit matches for the season, and played 8 times as starting lock. The team finished third on the ARC ladder, but lost their semi-final to the eventual champion team, the Central Coast Rays. The following year, Timani made his

debut for the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby, Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competitio ...

against the

Sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

on 15 February 2008 in Durban, although he only made 3 appearances for the franchise during the season. He moved to the

Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005 to 2022 as simply the Brumbies) is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the feral horses which inh ...

in 2009 and played most of the Super Rugby season, but then fell from favour and did not get any game time in 2010. Timani then took up a development contract with the

NSW Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), often referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team based in Sydney that represents the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby Pacific competition. The Waratahs play ...

, and won a regular starting position in the 2011 season. At that time, he was eligible to play for both Tonga (by birth) and Australia (by residency). He chose Australia and was selected by the Wallabies, playing against Samoa at Stadium Australia in Sydney on 17 July 2011. His decision to play for Australia meant he became ineligible to play for

Under IRB regulations, a player becomes permanently committed to a nation upon his first presence in a matchday squad with the country's full national team, "A" national team, or sevens national team. See especially Regulations 8.1 through 8.4. and it probably cost him an appearance at the

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

later that year. He was not selected in the Australian squad for the 2011 tournament but probably would have been selected for Tonga, if eligible. In 2013, he signed a three-year deal with French side,

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

. Timani joined the club after travelling with the Wallabies on their 2013 end-of-year tour. He continued his career in the French Top 14 for another four years with Clermont from 2016. Timani returned to Australia in 2021, rejoining the Western Force to play in the

Super Rugby AU Super Rugby AU, formerly named the Harvey Norman Super Rugby AU for sponsorship purposes, was a rugby union competition organised by Rugby Australia. The competition was created to supplant the 2020 Super Rugby season, which had been suspended ...

competition.

Personal life

On 15 December 2012, Sitaleki married Angela (née Kelava), whom he had been dating for three years.

References

External links

Club stats
on It's Rugby
ARU Player ProfileWaratahs Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Timani, Sitaleki 1986 births Living people Tongan emigrants to Australia Australian rugby union players Rugby union locks New South Wales Waratahs players Western Force players ACT Brumbies players RC Toulon players Australia international rugby union players People educated at Auckland Grammar School Montpellier Hérault Rugby players ASM Clermont Auvergne players Australian expatriate rugby union players in France 21st-century Australian sportsmen