Since shooting into the spotlight on his 18th birthday by scoring a remarkable hat-trick in a New Zealand school match, Taniela ‘Tongan Thor’ Tupou has been a human highlights reel for Rugby fans.
Taniela grew up wanting to play for the Wallabies and joined the Reds ahead of the 2015 season to begin chasing that dream. He spent 2015 training full-time with the Reds and playing for Brothers in Queensland Premier Rugby, and his strong performances for Brothers gave many local spectators a taste of his attacking and scrummaging abilities.
Tupou backed all that up for Queensland Country in the National Rugby Championship, scoring two match-winning tries in which he proved unstoppable once he’d got up a head of steam. Tupou signed a contract extension with the Reds ahead of the 2016 season, keeping him at the club until at least the end of 2018.
