Toa Halafihi

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Toa Halafihi
Date of birth (1993-11-27) 27 November 1993 (age 30)
Place of birthGisborne, New Zealand
Height191 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Weight102 kg (225 lb; 16 st 1 lb)
SchoolGisborne Boys' High School
Rugby union career
Position(s) Flanker, Number 8
Current team Benetton
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2012 Poverty Bay 4 (0)
2014−2018 Taranaki 42 (60)
2017 Hurricanes 2 (0)
2017–2018 Lyon 12 (5)
2018− Benetton 56 (50)
Correct as of 21 Oct 2022
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2021 Emerging Italy 1 (0)
2022− Italy 12 (5)
Correct as of 29 Sep 2023

Toa Halafihi (born 27 November 1993) is a New Zealand-born Italian professional rugby union player who primarily plays number eight for Benetton of the United Rugby Championship. He has also represented Italy at international level, having made his test debut against France during the 2022 Six Nations Championship. Halafihi has previously played for clubs such as Poverty Bay, Taranaki, Hurricanes, and Lyon in the past.[1][2][3][4]

Early life[edit]

Born and raised in the city of Gisborne in the northeastern part of New Zealand, Halafihi was schooled at Gisborne Boys' High School in his hometown and played first XV rugby for them.[1] After graduating high school, he played a season of Heartland Championship rugby with Poverty Bay in 2012 before later moving to Taranaki to play club rugby with Spotswood United.[5]

Club career[edit]

Halafihi first played provincial rugby for Taranaki during their ITM Cup Premiership title winning season of 2014, starting once and coming on as a replacement twice. He was much more of a regular in 2015, scoring 3 times in 9 outings to help the Bulls reach the Premiership semi-finals where they surrendered their crown to eventual winners, Canterbury, going down 46-20.

2016 saw him play in all 11 of Taranki's games and score 5 tries, although owing to stiff competition from the likes of Lachlan Boshier, Mitchell Brown, Mitchell Crosswell and Iopu Iopu-Aso, he was restricted to just 6 starts. His most memorable moment of the year came when he scored the winning try in a 35-32 win over Auckland in the final league stage match which ensured Taranaki would claim a home semi-final. Unfortunately for the men from New Plymouth, they were defeated 41-29 by Tasman and were forced to wait another 12 months before once more trying to reclaim the Premiership title.[3][6]

Good performances at domestic level for Taranaki over the course of the preceding 2 seasons brought him to the attention of Wellington-based Super Rugby franchise, the Hurricanes who named him in their squad ahead of their title defense in 2017.[2]

International career[edit]

On 8 December 2021, he was selected by Alessandro Troncon to be part of an Emerging Italy 27-man squad for the 2021 end-of-year rugby union internationals.[7]

In February 2022, he was selected for Italy for the first time by coach Kieran Crowley for the 2022 Six Nations Championship, despite never having been capped for the senior squad.[8] He made his debut against France. In February 2023, Benetton head coach Marco Bortolami, anncounced that Halafihi could also become an option for Italy in the 2023 Six Nations Championship.[9]

On 22 August 2023, he was named in the Italy's 33-man squad for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.[10]

Honours[edit]

Taranaki

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Toa Halafihi Taranaki Player Profile". TRFU. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Hurricanes 2017 Squad Guide" (PDF). All Blacks.com. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Toa Halafihi itsrugby.co.uk Player Statistics". itsrugby.co.uk. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  4. ^ "In Biancoverde Arriva Il Numero 8 Neozelandese Toa Halafihi". 13 December 2018.
  5. ^ "Toa Halafihi New Zealand Rugby History Player Profile". New Zealand Rugby History. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  6. ^ "Fijian No 8 Toa Halafihi describes Taranaki forwards as a family". Rugby Heaven. 14 October 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  7. ^ "ITALIA EMERGENTI, GLI AZZURRI CONVOCATI PER IL MATCH CONTRO LA ROMANIA". Italy Rugby Union (in Italian). 8 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  8. ^ "ITALRUGBY, GLI AZZURRI CONVOCATI PER L'ESORDIO AL GUINNESS SEI NAZIONI 2022". Italy Rugby Union (in Italian). 13 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  9. ^ "Toa Halafihi è recuperato: può diventare un'opzione anche per l'Italia nel Sei Nazioni 2023". OnRugby.it. 17 February 2023. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  10. ^ "ITALIA, I 33 AZZURRI PER LA RUGBY WORLD CUP "FRANCIA 2023". Federazione Italiana Rugby (in Italian). 22 August 2023.

External links[edit]

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