Atieli_Pakalani

Atieli Pakalani

Atieli Pakalani

Rugby player

Atieli Pakalani (born 2 August 1989)[1] is a Tongan rugby union player.[2] He is nicknamed the 'Tongan Hitman',[3] and his usual position is on the wing. Pakalani played Super Rugby for the NSW Waratahs in 2011.[2] In 2017 Pakalani joined Leicester Tigers.[4]

Quick Facts Date of birth, Place of birth ...

Biography

Pakalani attended secondary school at Tamaki College in New Zealand.[5] He joined ITM Cup team Auckland in 2009 on a two-year deal. He also captained the Tongan Under 20 team at the 2009 IRB Junior World Championship.[6]

In 2014 Pakalani represented Australia 7s at the time committing him to represent Australia only. In 2016 he was successful in an application to use a loophole in World Rugby's eligibility laws to allow him to represent Tonga[7] and on 1 July 2017 he made his international debut for Tonga in a 2019 Rugby World Cup qualifier against Samoa.[8]

Pakalani competed for Tonga at the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town.[9]

Reference list

  1. [1]
    "Afa Pakalani". ESPNscrum. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  2. [2]
    "Atieli Pakalani Player Profile". New South Wales Waratahs. Archived from the original on 22 August 2011. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  3. [3]
    "Atieli Pakalani". Green and Fold Rugby. Archived from the original on 27 July 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  4. [4]
    "Leicester Tigers sign Tonga full-back Atieli Pakalani". Leicester Mercury. 20 September 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  5. [5]
    "Pakalani turns Super rugby dream into reality". Otago Daily Times. Fairfax. 12 April 2011. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  6. [6]
    "Atieli Pakalani". Ultimate Rugby. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  7. [7]
    "Pacific nations hopeful of changes to rugby's eligibility laws". radioNZ. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  8. [8]
    "Tonga (20) 30 - 26 (16) Samoa (FT)". 1 July 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  9. [9]
    "Country Summary: Tonga - Rugby World Cup Sevens South Africa 2022". www.rwcsevens.com. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Atieli_Pakalani, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.