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Ex-All Black nicknamed 'The Hacksaw' calls time at 37
By Chris Jones
Former All Black Sam Tuitupou has finally decided to quit rugby at 37-years-old and set up his own player agency.
Tuitupou won the U19 and U21 World Cups as a junior All Black and then took his power running into the professional game-winning nine New Zealand caps between 2004 and 2006.
He won two Air New Zealand Cups with Auckland and played Super Rugby with the Chiefs and Blues before heading to Worcester, Munster and Sale where he captained the club. In 2017 he joined Coventry helping them gain promotion to the English Championship.
Now, Tuitupou believes it is time to hang up his boots and revealed that when he was growing up he hoped to play for Tonga before landing success with the All Blacks.
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He said: “The goal for me had always been to continue to around 40 so I could play with my boys but the time has come. This also means I can go out on my own terms while the body still has the capability to play. I’ve sacrificed a lot over the years so now it’s time to give back to my seven kids and my wife.
“I enjoyed playing in New Zealand where I was brought up, but I’ve played most of my career in England where I made lots of memories and friends that I will keep for life so that is home now. I always thought I would play for Tonga, as that is my heritage, but representing the All Blacks was massive for me and my family and is something I will always treasure.
“I was very lucky to play for some great clubs in Europe in Worcester, Munster and Sale then being part of a championship win at Coventry – the first since my Auckland days – was very special. I’m going to be starting up my own player agency which will keep me in the rugby environment – although it will take some time to get used to not being around the boys.”
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Latest Comments
I was at this match. Jordie Barrett earned his money with a massive hit to slow a connaught attack to win the math when Leinster had 14 in the last few mins. Mack Hansen had a real go at the refereeing after citing a serious head hits on Iaone and Aki.
connaught were up for this. Snyman tried a trademark dirty after, and the onnaught 4 and the onnaught pack absolutely laid into him.
Leinster hose to kick to the corner when only winning by 5 with 10 left and qith only 2 tries scored. onnaught should have punisihed them for that utter stupidity after they broke out and Leinster yellowed to stop the attack.
13 changes from last week. It seems teams are scoring about 10 points less against Leinster this year. With Neinaber in his second year, the new attack coah established, surely they will be a bigger threat in champions up? Or will the attack recgress further.
They must adopt the SA philosophy of take your 3 pointers and the bonus points will come.
connaught back line inluding Iaone, Murphy, Aki, Forde, cordero is the seond best in Ireland surely. Leinster were lucky here
Go to commentsShould have played more for England but he jumped ship just as he was breaking through.
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