Taniela Tupou: 'Boy with a dream' to Wallabies star, thanks to his mum

By Sia Uhila Angilau

Feature - Taniela Tupou is a player many young Tongans who love rugby are trying to emulate.

Because he rose to stardom after going through the local system back at Tonga College in 'Atele, outside the capital city Nuku'alofa, many young boys take to him and his rise easily.

They understand what he went through, as they are also going through the same back on the islands.

Tupou rose to stardom after stints in college rugby in New Zealand but then got picked up from across the Tasman and made the move to Down Under.

And despite his star ranking in the eyes of many locals and those who love Tongan rugby, the player remains firmly grounded and said his mother, Loisi, has been a major player in his rise.

The dream

"Before the Wallabies, I was just a boy with a dream. And the dream was to get on a plane," Tupou told Ordinary Tongan Lives in Tonga, during his break home.

"When I grew up, I knew exactly which plane landed in Tonga on what day. I knew the plane from Australia came at 2am and I would wake up until 2am just to go outside and watch the plane. In my heart, I longed to one day be in one.

"When I was captain of 'Atele's grade 1 rugby team, I asked Loisi, my Mum, before one of our games, 'How many tries do I have to get so you can buy me a plane ticket to 'Eua?'

"She said about 3 or 4. I gave everything in that game and scored four tries. After the game, Mum said, 'Boy, just where do you think we'll get ticket money from?"

Tupou said his family had struggled through thick and thin, as were many others on the island.

His dad had died when he was nine years old and he knew it was "to even get 20 cents a day".

There were days when he had to ask neighbours for flour just so they could have tōpai, or cooked Tongan bun in coconut milk.

"Mum had to ask for stuff too. It was difficult to watch her ask people for things but I knew she asked because we had nothing," Tupou said, as he remembered the struggles they faced.

But his mother encouraged him to play rugby.

"At school, I barely made it academically and when I went to the bush, I knew I'd have no future there. But even with our struggles, I think Mum saw something in me when it came to rugby," he said.

"She sacrificed a lot and pushed me to pursue my talent. Before the opportunities came, my Mum was there pushing me and she was involved in everything I did.

"Daily at 5am, she woke me up to run on the main road from Vainī to Malapo then she would walk up to meet me at a certain spot.

"Some days I ran to Nualei and returned. Wherever I ran, Mum was walking and waiting somewhere to meet me."

His mum also pushed Tupou to know his Bible and have Jesus - spiritual upbringing which is always a major part of Tongan living.

"We would fast every first Sunday and prayed constantly," he said.

"Every day after exercising, she'd have paragraphs of scriptures for me to read. I'm almost in my 30s and she's still sending me paragraphs of counselling and scriptures.

"When I had the first opportunity to play and study in Sacred Heart in New Zealand, I think it was the image of my Mum struggling and sacrificing for me that got me through those years. I was still in Form three (grade 9) and I was alone."

His dream of flying on a plane was finally a reality - leaving Tonga to study and play in New Zealand, the first step on his path to stardom as a rugby player.

College rugby

Tupou said moving to New Zealand and playing college rugby was a different experience, especially when games were being televised live.

He was also branded 'The Tonga Thor' because of his powerful runs and devastating form, over running almost anyone in his path when he had the ball in hand.

Being on television meant more people would get the chance to see his games and how he performed.

That also gave him the break he needed and the dream of moving to Australia, where his heart had always been.

"On my last year in Sacred Heart, we had a game where I scored three tries," he revealed.

"That game was televised LIVE on Sky TV and it was on the news in various places. That's when different clubs were interested in me.

"Although I was in New Zealand, my rugby heart was always with Australia. As a young boy, I was a big fan of the Wallabies, Quade Cooper, and I also knew many Tongans who were playing for them.

"My older brother was living in Queensland at the time also. Of all the teams interested in me, I thought I'd pick Queensland Reds."

Tupou said the contract signing took place at MacDonalds in Mangere and theevent was "funny ….we laugh about that with my family because they say I'm always led by food. The manager bought me a Big Mac and I signed the contract to join the Red".

Move to the Reds

But the experience of moving in with the Reds and being part of the team presented more challenges for Tupou than he realised.

As young man who had grown up in Tonga and having met challenges with academic studies, he was not a master of the English language or 'lea fakapalgi'.

So instead of being comfortable in his new environment he opted to stay quite and pretended he was out of sight more often.

"That journey wasn't as easy as I thought. In Australia, I played as prop," he revealed to Ordinary Tongan Lives.

"You get to be someone in that position when you're matured and well experienced and there was a lot of competition in Australia.

"My first year, I was in the back row of every team meeting because I didn't understand a single thing that was said. Next thing you know, our Coach would ask me a question and I'd just sit quietly on the verge of crying and never answered.

"It took me a long time to be comfortable enough to share my thoughts or to even ask a question."

So he instead just decided to get up and get the job done - and let his actions talk for him.

"Some things taught didn't make sense but when I got out to practice, everything made sense," he said.

Then there was the challenge of performing and getting through the ranks, before he could play in the Super Rugby competition.

He wrongly thought that he could just get straight into Super Rugby when he signed up with the Reds but didn't realise he had to earn his way through the ranks first.

""I had gone to Australia with the thought that I would go straight and play in the Super Rugby but that wasn't the case," he said.

"There is a first team for the Reds, then a second team with reserves and then I was in the teams after that.

"You had to play for the clubs before you even get a chance to make it to the Reds. And I almost gave up. I tried in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Towards the end of 2016, I finally got an opportunity to play for the Reds at Super Rugby.

"One of the prop reserves in the team was injured that year. To my surprise the coach told me to prepare to play that week. I cried. It had been three long years of training to get to this moment and I promised myself I'd grab this opportunity and go for it."

Next step up

Mum Loisi flew over to watch Tupou make his way into the Super Rugby competition with the Reds and watched his first three games in 2016.

He had planned to travel back to Tonga with her for a break.

But then he got a call from then Wallaby coach Michael Cheika, who said he was picking him for the Wallabies, after watching his three games for the Reds.

"I mentioned I'm leaving for Tonga to take my mother back," Tupou said.

"He said go take your Mum. Once you get there, we'll book your return ticket."

Tupou got to Tonga at 3am and dropped his mother off before heading back to Sydney on the 4pm flight that day.

He said both he and his mum were surprised and elated when they got the news that Tupou was going to join the Wallabies for their Europe Tour.

"I was a big fan of the Wallabies but I had never thought I'd one day play for them. And yet I did when I was 20 years old," he said.

"Up to that point, I had only travelled by plane to Fiji, New Zealand and Australia on economy seats. On this tour to Europe, we were sponsored by Qantas.

"We travelled business class on a 747 which was maaasssive! My eyes were so big! I asked my teammates, 'Is that our plane?!' It's crazy! It was a double-decker and I never thought that was possible in a plane. To everyone else on the team, it was just a normal trip. They got comfortable before our departure.

"But not me. I was living in a dream and experiencing something I may have never experienced if I didn't play rugby. I just sat in my proper formal suit the entire trip, admired everything, stared outside, and reflected on how far I've come.

"I was just a kid from Tonga who left when he was 14; didn't know how to speak English and would run to the toilet to cry because I didn't know what was going on. And here I was traveling to Europe with the Wallabies and I was the youngest in the team."

Family support

Tupou said his family's support was always keeping him going, even more now than ever before.

A spate of injuries meant he would miss Super Rugby and Wallaby commitments for some time.

He has also changed clubs, joining the Melbourne Rebels for a while before he had to move to the Waratahs this year when the Rebels wrapped up.

But he said all through his career, whether for the Wallabies or his club, he is always thankful to his family.

He even shares the important of family support with children when he is able to go out and be part of rugby development programs.

"With every opportunity I get in Australia, I share my life experiences with the kids. Many of them ask, 'Can I actually do it?'

"I reassure them they can. Anyone can do it. But they must have support, especially from home. I always knew my Mum supported me 100%.

"After that, I didn't care whether anyone else supported me. No matter where I played, I'd run on the field and look outside to get a glimpse of my Mum smiling. When I played in 'Atele, I'd score a try on the field and my sister would score a try outside by the sidelines because she'd been running alongside me cheering me on.

"Everywhere I went in the world, I knew I had that kind of support from home.

"That support has taken me to places and connected me to people I never dreamed of as a young boy. I have had wonderful opportunities; I've been everywhere and seen so much of the world."

He said after having grown from that dreamer at Tonga College to having travelled the world with the Wallabies and his clubsides, he just wants to give back to rugby, family and communities he is a part of.

" Now, I just want to give back. I wish to give back to my family, to the community, and help inspire young people," he said.

"When I see kids sitting in meetings and assemblies listening to me, I see myself in them. I know there's heaps of Taniela Tupous and Fīnau Makas out there but they'll never get to where they wish to be without trials, challenges, and also opportunities and support.

"When I first left Tonga, Mum reminded me to be humble. I try my best to live up to that because out of all things, I wish to be remembered as a humble person-someone who rose to the top of the game in the field but also managed himself well outside of it-a good teammate, a great friend, a family man, but one who was always humble."

Tupou will be in action with the Waratahs from this weekend in the new Super Rugby Pacific competition.

He is hopeful he can still secure a spot with the Wallabies for the Tests against Fiji and the British Lions.

But whether he gets the Wallabies call up or not, Tupou is grateful for what he has been able to enjoy, having realised the dream he once dreamt and more.

-This article was originally published by Ordinary Tongan Lives