Sopoaga running into good form in rugby

“I don’t think I have scored seven tries in seven years,” said Tupou Sopoga on his recent try fest for the Petone Premiers. “I’ll take the tries when I can get them because they don’t come around too often!”

The in-form Petone No. 8 scored four tries against Johnsonville in round 10 and a hat-trick in round 11 against Wellington.

Tries were hard to come by last Saturday just gone, Petone falling to a 19-36 loss in their annual first-round clash for the famous F.J Tilyard Shield.

“I thought Poneke played a really good brand of football,” Sopoaga responded. “[First five-eighth] Pakai Turia managed the game well and we struggled to contain his direction and that was a difference. We got exposed on the outside as well, we didn’t fire the shots we wanted but we will learn from that.”

Poneke’s all-action pack was hard to contain on their own patch too. “It is also a good arm-wrestle when you are playing up against good quality loose forwards. But this gives us the opportunity to bounce back this weekend.

Now they need to focus on securing the point they need to qualify for the Jubilee Cup when they face Old Boys University on Saturday.

“One of our main goals has been to go all the way but to do that we need to make the Jubilee Cup first. We believe we can do the job on Saturday against OBU, but we have to play our best.”

OBU will be going all out to win with a bonus point and try and defend the Swindale Shield. Even then they will be glued to the Saturday Rugby Club to hear if rivals Marist St Pat’s can prevent Northern United doing the same and winning on the who beat who countback scenario.

Should they both play, Tupou could be up close and personal against his younger brother Zeke Sopoaga who is OBU’s hooker when fit. 

His other two rugby playing brothers will both be playing in Highlanders territory this weekend, Lima will start at first five-eighth for the Highlanders against the Hurricanes in Dunedin on Friday night, while youngest brother Toko, who captained Wellington College in 2016 and who is also a first five-eighth, is playing in Southland and doing a plumbing apprenticeship.

Lima is the oldest of the four Sopoaga brothers, followed by Tupou, then Zeke and then Toko.

Tupou spent a season in Southland and played one match for the Highlanders last year, following six years living and playing in Australia and playing rugby league. He was signed out of the Wellington College First XV at the end of 2010 by the Bulldogs, before playing three seasons of NRL with the Sharks and the Panthers and playing internationals for the Cook Islands in 2013 and 2016.

In late 2016 he returned to rugby union in Australia (via a brief stint playing for Old Boys University and playing one Premier game), playing for the Western Sydney Rams in the National Rugby Championship competition.

“At that stage I was thinking to either go to England and play rugby league or give rugby one last crack and I knew that if I didn’t play rugby I would probably never have the opportunity to switch back.

“The Highlanders gave me an opportunity to get myself back into New Zealand rugby. I didn’t get re-signed, so my partner and I thought it would be good to move back to Wellington with our young family, where the rest of my family is as well.”

Tupou has been to some Wellington Lions training squad training sessions so far this year. “The competition in Wellington is strong so I know that there a lot of good players as well.” Outside of rugby and family, Tupou is also studying and working.

Tupou has always been a loose forward, but the transition back wasn’t straightforward. “A lot of people think it’s easy going from league to union because a few guys do it these days. But it is actually quite hard, the game’s changed a lot in the last couple of years – but I kind of feel like it benefits my game and I am just learning every week.”

Returning to Wellington fulltime this year, Tupou went to Petone through former OBU coach Jeremy Little, now Petone’s head coach, and also because a lot of his friends were there.

Petone v Old Boys University (for the Marc Verhoeven Memorial Trophy), Saturday at Nairnville Park, kick-off 2.45pm.