Taniela Tupou

‘Taniela’ Tupou is a gentle giant of a man who has realised the enormous potential that engulfed him as a schoolboy.

Tupou first came to prominence as a member of a Tongan U15s tour to New Zealand. Not surprisingly he was quickly signed to a scholarship at Auckland’s Sacred Heart College. In 2014, and at just 18 years of age, Tupou became an overnight YouTube sensation after video of the 135kg prop’s three tries against Kelston Boys High School hit the web. That footage triggered a ferocious battle to secure the future of a clearly prodigious rugby talent. Eventually family and Australia won out after an eligibility clause prohibited him from play for NZ Schools. Tupou’s brother Criff lived in Brisbane and his idol Quade Cooper played for Queensland, so he signed with the Reds for the 2015 season.

Tupou later revealed that his heart was always with the Wallabies. “There was a reason why I moved here,” Tupou said. “As a young boy from Tonga all I wanted to do was play for Australia.”

In 2017 that dream became a reality when he played his maiden Test against Scotland at Murrayfield and two years later he won selection to his first Rugby World Cup. Since that tournament Tupou has taken his game to a whole new level, particularly in terms of physicality, endurance, and ball play. In 2020 his week-in, week-out performances for the Reds during Super Rugby AU were a sight to behold and it was no surprise when he was a runaway winner of the Pilecki Medal, awarded to Queensland’s players’ player of the year. As if to prove that was no fluke, he won the medal again in 2021.

Unfortunately, a ruptured Achilles tendon - suffered in the narrow loss to Ireland on the 2022 Spring Tour - has put his participation in RWC’23 on tenterhooks.

After moving from the Rebels to the Waratahs in 2025, Taniela Tupou was a regular on the team list for Dan McKellar's outfit throughout the season. After inspired performances for the Tahs and First Nations & Pasifika in the tour games against the Lions, Joe Schmidt recalled the powerful prop to the starting XV in the Wallabies final test match against the Lions.