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The Tongan Thor re-commits to Rugby Australia on a long-term deal
By Online Editors
Wallabies prop Taniela Tupou has put pen to paper on a new four-year deal with Rugby Australia and the Queensland Rugby Union (QRU) to extend his stay at the Reds.
The ‘Tongan Thor’ will now remain on Australian shores until at least the end of the 2023 season, in a deal that secures his eligibility for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
The 23-year old first joined Queensland in 2014 and quickly established himself as a Super Rugby star, after taking home the Player of the Season at the 2018 Rugby Australia Awards.
Tupou was invited on the Wallabies 2016 Spring Tour as a Development Player before earning his first Test cap against Scotland at Murrayfield the following year.
"I’m very excited to sign for the next few years. Queensland and Australia offered me the first opportunity out of school and I feel I have more to do to repay that faith," he said.
“I only started playing consistently in the last two or three years, so I think there’s still more for me to offer in Australia for the Reds and Wallabies.
“We have a really good young group in Queensland who have been working hard the last few years and I know we’re heading in the right direction.
“I love playing for Australia. Obviously growing up as a kid, watching them, and now being able to pull on the jersey is an honour. To know that I will be here for the next four years is exciting because it means I may have the opportunity to pull on the jersey again if I continue to work hard."
Tupou grew up in Tonga but moved to Auckland to join Sacred Heart College on a scholarship in 2011 after touring New Zealand with a Tongan U14 side.
The tighthead prop has notched 14 Tests caps and two tries.
- Rugby Australia
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Latest Comments
I had a look at the wiki article again, it's all terribly old data (not that I'd see reason for much change in the case of SA).
Number Of Clubs:
1526
Registered+Unregistered Players:
651146
Number of Referees:
3460
Pre-teen Male Players:
320842
Pre-teen Female Player:
4522
Teen Male Player:
199213
Teen Female Player:
4906
Senior Male Player:
113174
Senior Female Player:
8489
Total Male Player:
633229
Total Female Player:
17917
So looking for something new as were more concerned with adults specifically, so I had a look at their EOY Financial Review.
So 80k+ adult males (down from 113k), but I'm not really sure when youth are involved with SAn clubs, or if that data is for some reason not being referenced/included. 300k male students however (200k in old wiki data).
https://resources.world.rugby/worldrugby/document/2020/07/28/212ed9cf-cd61-4fa3-b9d4-9f0d5fb61116/P56-57-Participation-Map_v3.pdf has France at 250k registered but https://presse-europe1-fr.translate.goog/exclu-europe-1-le-top-10-des-sports-les-plus-pratiques-en-france-en-2022/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp has them back up at 300k registered.
The French number likely Students + Club, but everyone collects data different I reckon. In that WR pdf for instance a lot of the major nations have a heavily registered setup, were as a nation like England can penetrate into a lot more schools to run camps and include them in the reach of rugby. For instance the SARU release says only 29% of schools are reached by proper rugby programs, where as the 2million English number would be through a much much higer penetration I'd imagine. Which is thanks to schools having the ability to involve themselves in programs more than anything.
In any case, I don't think you need to be concerned with the numbers, whether they are 300 or 88k, there is obviously a big enough following for their pro scenes already to have enough quality players for a 10/12 team competition. They appear ibgger than France but I don't really by the lower English numbers going around.
Go to commentsOk I understand. Give them my number please Nick.
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