Tame Tupou
![]() |
||||||
Tupou playing for Bradford in 2007 | ||||||
Personal information | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Siokatame Gary Tupou[1] | |||||
Born | Auckland, New Zealand |
22 October 1982 |||||
Playing information | ||||||
Height | 191 cm (6 ft 3 in) | |||||
Weight | Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). | |||||
Position | Wing | |||||
Club | ||||||
Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
2004–06 | Brisbane Broncos | 25 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 60 |
2007–08 | Bradford Bulls | 21 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 52 |
Total | 46 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 112 | |
Representative | ||||||
Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
2006–07 | New Zealand | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Source: Rugby League Project |
Siokatame Gary Tupou[2] also known as Tame Tupou[3] and Gary Tupou (born 22 October 1982, in Auckland, New Zealand) is a former professional rugby league footballer who represented the New Zealand national side. His usual position was on the wing, but he also played as a second rower. He first played in the National Rugby League for Australian club, the Brisbane Broncos, and then in Super League for English club, the Bradford Bulls.
Background
Tupou was born in Auckland and played rugby league in his early years for Ellerslie Eagles before attending boarding school in South Auckland, Wesley College. There he played for the school's 1st XV rugby union team. After his years in college, he returned to rugby league, playing in the Bartercard Cup before being signed to the National Rugby League.[4]
Broncos
Tupou made his National Rugby League debut for the Brisbane Broncos in 2004. His size and speed led many Broncos fans to hope he could help fill the huge gap left in the Broncos' wings since Wendell Sailor and Lote Tuqiri left the club to play for the Wallabies.[5]
Tupu made his international debut for the New Zealand Kiwis in the 2006 ANZAC Test. In the 2006 season, a year the Broncos won the premiership, Tupou was the Broncos' joint top try-scorer, along with captain Darren Lockyer. He scored more than once in several matches, earning him the nickname "two-tries Tupou". He also continued to play on the wing for New Zealand in the end of season 2006 Tri-Nations.
Bradford
In April 2007 Tupou signed for Englich club Bradford Bulls. Tupou made his debut for Bradford against Huddersfield Giants in the quarter finals of the 2007 Challenge Cup on 6 June with two tries as a substitute in the Bulls' win. He enjoyed a good start to his Bulls career by scoring 10 tries in 11 games that season. At the end of that year Tupou was selected for New Zealand's 2007 All Golds tour of Great Britain.
Tupou made a poor start in 2008 due to knee injuries, starting in three games and coming on as a substitute in others. In August that year he was named in the Tonga training squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup but was not selected in the final squad after he had to undergo another knee reconstruction.[6]
In April 2009 Bradford released Tupou after a Rugby Football League tribunal allowed the club to exercise a clause in his contract which stated that the player's contract could be terminated if he was unable to play or train for a 26-week period in any one year.[7]
Wests Tigers
In July 2009 it was announced by Bradford that Tupou had signed for the Wests Tigers in the NRL competition with immediate effect.[8] Tupou failed to make any appearances in the 2009 or 2010 seasons due to his on going battle with knee injuries. Tupou retired in 2010 due to his constant injury problems.
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Cite error: Invalid <references>
tag; parameter "group" is allowed only.
<references />
, or <references group="..." />
External links
- ↑ TUPOU, SIOKATANE GARY (TAME) 2006 - 2007 - KIWI #725 nzleague.co.nz
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Coffey and Wood The Kiwis: 100 Years of International Rugby League ISBN 1-86971-090-8
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Bradford cleared to release Tupou BBC Sport, 7 April 2009
- ↑ Winger Tupou joins Wests Tigers BBC Sport, 8 July 2009
- Pages with reference errors
- Use dmy dates from April 2015
- Use New Zealand English from April 2015
- All Wikipedia articles written in New Zealand English
- Infobox rugby league biography templates updated
- 1982 births
- New Zealand rugby league players
- New Zealand people of Tongan descent
- New Zealand national rugby league team players
- Brisbane Broncos players
- Bradford Bulls players
- Eastern Tornadoes players
- Ellerslie Eagles players
- Balmain Ryde-Eastwood Tigers players
- Rugby league wingers
- Living people