Tonga

What a weekend for Major League Rugby. Three road wins, a neutral venue flop, and a dynamite upset. It was an unpredictable adventure and a number of new players put their hands up for selection in our weekly picks. LA may feel short changed but their win was a team …

Russia and Georgia were winners in today’s RWC 2023 qualifiers. The Eastern European countries won their respective matches in what was the opening round of the 2021 Rugby Europe Championship. Georgia were 29-16 winners away to Portugal while Russia downed Romania 18-13. All four countries are prior RWC competitors. Georgia …

2021 looms as a breakthrough year for Uruguay. In a year like no other Los Teros are set to play test matches against Italy, Romania, Tonga, and Wales. The information comes from a publication on the URU’s website. It notes club and international activities for the year 2021. Uruguay are …

Faka’osi Pifeleti has re-signed with the San Diego Legion for the 2021 Major League Rugby season. The 24-year-old prop joins incoming Luatangi Li and fellow returnee Nathan Sylvia as loosehead options for the new campaign, with Aaron Mitchell the only tighthead specialist confirmed to date. Also known as ‘Oti’, Faka’osi …

Gordon hooker Mahe Vailanu will follow Head Coach Darren Coleman from Sydney to the LA Giltinis. The 23-year-old was recently awarded the prestigious Ken Catchpole Medal as the Shute Shield’s Player of the Year following the club’s victorious 2020 season.     Vailanu was born and raised in Tonga but …

The Rugby Championship is the name used for the Southern Hemisphere’s annual Tier 1 tournament. It is neither a regional nor a continental competition. Instead, it is the four RWC Semi Finalists outside of the UK and France. They happen to all be from south of the equator. South Africa’s …

Kurt Morath has re-signed with the Austin Gilgronis for the 2021 Major League Rugby season. Tonga’s all-time leading scorer with 340 points in 38 tests, the New Zealand-born flyhalf gives the AG’s two sets of international halfbacks along with Will Magie and scrumhalves Pele Cowley and Marcelo Torrealba. Morath arrived …

Houston have signed center Moa Maliepo, prop Nikoloz Khatiashvili, and second row Apisai Tauyavuca for the 2021 Major League Rugby season. SaberCats flyhalf Sam Windsor confirmed the news on the latest edition of the MLR Kickoff Podcast. All three arrive from European professional clubs. Maliepo arrives from Romania, most recently …

The New England Free Jacks have signed Tongan international Jack Ram for the 2021 Major League Rugby season. A member of the Ikali Tahi team at Rugby World Cup 2015, the 33-year-old loose forward arrives from Coventry having spent most of the past four years playing in England. Born in …

Rugby ATL prop Duane Aholelei has signed a two-year extension with the club that runs through the 2023 Major League Rugby season. The Tonga ‘A’ representative follows fellow front rowers Chance Wenglewski and Neethling Gericke who have also added time to their deals in the off-season. Aholelei, 31, started three …