'I wouldn’t have become an All Black if I stayed in Southland'

By 2020, Pasilio Tosi’s rugby career had stalled in Invercargill. The promising loose forward from the 2015 National Top Four-winning Rotorua Boys’ High School First XV played seven games in three seasons for the Southland Stags in the NPC and lost them all. Though he won two Galbraith Shields with Marist and learned from Southland coach and former All Blacks prop Dave Hewitt, Tosi had to move on. He only realised this when his Loan Star restaurant colleague, now the mother of three of his four children, Michelle, forced his hand.

The sixth round of Super Rugby Pacific kicked off with the Highlanders taking on Tosi’s Hurricanes at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin. At 27, Tosi is a very different beast from the one who left the Highlanders region six years ago, unsure of his future.

Tosi has played 41 games for the Hurricanes, winning 26 of them. He made his debut in April 2022 against the Crusaders in Wellington, but only played nine more times over the next two seasons. In 2024, he had a breakout year, playing 16 games and earning selection for the All Blacks.

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Since then, he’s played 16 Tests, winning 13, and even got to jam with New Zealand pop stars Six60 – who started on Castle Street in Dunedin – on the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House.

“I wouldn’t have become an All Black if I stayed in Southland. Thanks, Michelle. I wasn’t getting enough opportunities and lacked motivation,” Tosi told RugbyPass.

“Dan Cron and Richard Watt have been huge in developing my game at the Bay of Plenty Streamers. Preparation, fitness, diet, technical, tactical, recovery, my whole approach changed.

“The Hurricanes game against the Force last Friday is genuinely one of the toughest games I’ve played. Big, tall locks that work all day, Carlo Tizzano on the ball, clever backs. They wouldn’t go away; they were lippy about it, too. That comes from their coach, Dan Cron. He’s made them a much better side than people think. That’s what he does to everyone.”

Since 2019, Bay of Plenty have won 50 of 80 games, making at least the NPC quarter finals in six of those seven seasons.

After playing eight games for the Streamers in 2021, Tosi, who weighed over 140kg at the time, caught the Hurricanes’ attention. Progress didn’t come quickly, though.

That’s when Esi Komaisavai and Gerrard Fasavalu from the Paremata Plimmerton rugby club in North Wellington became key to his journey.

Fledgling halfback Komaisavai, later a Wellington Lion in 2025, worked and lived with Tosi in the Bay and brought him to the “Hammerheads.” Charismatic coach Fasavalu was turning a basket case into a powerhouse. Between 2015 and 2021, Paremata-Plimmerton won 8 out of 86 premier games. In 2022, they won four matches in a 13-game season. In 2024, they won 14 consecutive games and reached the coveted Jubilee Cup final for the first time. Tosi played in eight wins that season, gaining confidence and a de facto family that helped him reach greater heights.

“I can’t speak highly enough about that club. Gerrard is a coach who loves and cares for his players. I was struggling financially and emotionally when I arrived. They fed my kids, put me in touch with good people, and helped grow my game when they could, “acknowledged Tosi.

To show his gratitude, Tosi will gift the club his All Blacks jersey from the 31-27 win over France at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin on July 5, 2025. He’ll present it during a special ceremony with family and friends on Good Friday. That win was the All Blacks’ 500th Test victory. Tosi admits he struggled late in that year’s Super Rugby season and was surprised to be picked again for the All Blacks. Overcoming those challenges made his eighth Test jersey feel like the perfect gift for Paremata-Plimmerton.

“That was a hard-fought game. It came down to one scrum at the end. I’ll claim the penalty against France for collapsing,” Tosi laughed.

“That French team was a young one, written off by everyone with nothing to lose. They played without fear, and we had some good areas in that game, too. It felt like an important game.”

In the 78th minute, with the hosts grimly defending their try line, tighthead Tosi won a crucial scrum penalty after Australian referee Nic Berry was heard saying, “Loosehead collapsing.” Province Rugby debutant Paul Mallez could not match the strength of the 193cm, 140kg Tosi.

Fasavalu: “It’s really special for the club to receive this taonga. We already have several of Ken Grey’s Test  jerseys. Ken is our other All Blacks prop. The day Pasilio was first picked for the All Blacks was the date that Ken Gray passed away. How’s that for synergy?

Pasilio is a huge part of the club. He arrives three hours before games to spend time with the junior players, coaching, joking around, and being a great role model. On the field, he was a force of nature at number eight until the Hurricanes asked for him to play prop. Sometimes, he even played both positions in the same game.

“I like him at tighthead. He reminds me of Carl Hayman. That’s the most important position on the field, in my opinion. Pasilio really knows how to use his size and dominate in the scrum, which can win games. Sometimes, when he faced a younger or smaller opponent, he would go a bit easier and coach them. He’d choose his moments, but he just couldn’t bring himself to crush a rookie.”

It’s unlikely Tosi will cut the Highlanders any slack tonight. The Hurricanes have scored more points per game than any other team in the first five rounds of Super Rugby Pacific and are on a nine-game winning streak against the Highlanders, giving up just 17 points per game during that run. The Highlanders have lost nine of their last 10 games against New Zealand teams and trail the Hurricanes 29-15 across their meetings.

“The Highlanders are a tough team with strong props and exciting backs. Their lineout has looked vulnerable, so we might be able to target them there, but otherwise I’ll just stick to my usual game. Nothing is guaranteed each week in Super Rugby,” Tosi said.

If the Hurricanes win, could there be an impromptu jam at 660 Castle Street, where one of New Zealand’s most popular bands got their start and with whom Tosi counts as friends?

“Six60, that’s been a lot of fun. It all started in 2024, when they met the All Blacks for a promotional event. I’ve played guitar since high school, and they taught me a song that hadn’t been released yet, ‘We made it.’”

“Last year, I was in Geneva with Ethan de Groot, Fabian Holland, and Du’Plessis Kirifi for a three-day promotion with Tudor watches, a sponsor of the All Blacks. Out of the blue, Six60 messaged me on Instagram to see if I wanted to join them for their November concert in Sydney. I don’t think they knew I was in Switzerland. I almost said no – not because I couldn’t make it, but because I was so tired of long flights. Michelle told me, ‘You’re crazy, you have to do it.’ I’m glad I listened. The experience was incredible. I got to perform ‘We made it’ with them.”

Pasilio Tosi was born and raised in Levin, a sleepy town of 20,000 people about 90 minutes north of Wellington. He’s the son of retired vegetable farmer Pahulu and lost his mother, Foulata, in 2015. Now, he’s a father and All Black #1219. From the album Right Here Right Now, Tosi with a pertinent verse from the song ‘We made it.’

“I know it’s been a bumpy road,
Keep thinkin’ there’s so far to go
But take a look around, it’s amazin’
If we made it here, then we made it
No better place I’d rather be
All of my people here with me
Never took the time to celebrate it
‘Cause if we made it here, then we made it”