Bill Tupou

Bill Tupou (born 2 July 1990) is a Tonga international rugby league footballer who plays as a centre or on the wing for Wakefield Trinity in the Super League.

Not to be confused with Will Tupou or Willie Tupou.

Bill Tupou
Personal information
Full namePio Bill Tupou
Born (1990-07-02) 2 July 1990[1]
Auckland, New Zealand
Height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1]
Weight15 st 8 lb (99 kg)[1]
Playing information
PositionCentre, Wing
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2010–13 New Zealand Warriors 64 31 0 0 124
2014–15 Canberra Raiders 14 3 0 0 12
2015– Wakefield Trinity 116 39 0 0 156
Total 194 73 0 0 292
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2014– Tonga 1 1 0 0 4
As of 10 January 2021
Source: [2][3]

He previously played for the New Zealand Warriors and the Canberra Raiders in the NRL.

Background

Tupou was born in Auckland, New Zealand.

Early years

Tupou attended Kelston Boys High School and played for the Bay Roskill Vikings and Marist Saints in the Auckland Rugby League competition.

Tupou represented the New Zealand Under-16 side and also represented Auckland Under-16 teams.[4]

Playing career

With the creation of the Toyota Cup in 2008 Tupou joined the New Zealand Warriors under-20 side and scored 14 tries in 19 games. He repeated this effort in 2009, scoring 14 tries in just 17 games.[5]

Tupou was one of a small group of players still eligible for the side in 2010. In all, Tupou played 51 Toyota Cup games for the Junior Warriors, scoring thirty seven tries.[6]

In 2010 he trained during the pre-season with the senior side and was named to make his first grade début for the Warriors on 4 April 2010 against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.[7]

In 2010 he was picked for the Junior Kiwis.[8] On 12 October 2011 he was called into the New Zealand national rugby league team squad for the Four Nations tournament.

In 2012 Tupou re-signed with the Warriors until the end of the 2014 season.[9]

Tupou joined the Canberra Raiders on 25 June 2013. He had felt as though he was on the outer with the Warriors under new coach Matt Elliot who had preferred others to him on the wing during the 2013 season.[10]

Tupou joined the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in July 2015 and is well known by Wakefield Trinity fans and Super League fans alike for his aggressive and fearless style of play as a powerful centre.

Tupou scored a memorable eleventh-minute hat trick in Wakefield's 42-30 win away at Wigan Warriors.[11]

References
  1. "Bill Tupou Wakefield Wildcats". www.superleague.co.uk. Rugby Football League. 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  2. "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  3. Love Rugby League
  4. Official profile Archived 29 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine Warriors.com.au
  5. Bill TUPOU Archived 10 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine rleague.com
  6. Bill Tupou Archived 3 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine nzleague.co.nz
  7. Tupou debut, Brown back to face Manly Archived 25 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine Vodafone Warriors News, 30 March 2010
  8. Nine NYC-winning Warriors named in Jnr Kiwis Archived 30 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine NRL.com, 6 October 2010
  9. Winger Tupou re-signs with Warriors New Zealand Warriors, 2 May 2012
  10. http://tvnz.co.nz/rugby-league-news/bill-tupou-quits-warriors-join-raiders-5475665
  11. "Bill Tupou joins Wakefield Wildcats from Canberra Raiders". bbc.co.uk. 20 July 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
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