Tongan Bear revels in his extraordinary rags to riches story that has now earned him a Clermont extension
“Tongan Bear” Loni Uhila has revealed the extraordinary commitment he put into making a career as a professional rugby player.
The unlikely cult hero prop of the Hurricanes’ 2016 Super Rugby title victory is these days making inroads on the French scene, recently agreeing a one-year contract extension with Clermont.
However, what is most intriguing about the 29-year-old’s rise to prominence is the hard yards he put in to make it as a rugby player in the first place.
But for a fortunate twist of fate, the journey that has taken him from Tonga to France via title success in Wellington might never have started but for the good word his friend Isileli Vakauta put in for him.
“I grew up in a very poor family, but in a very supportive environment,” he said in Friday’s edition of Midi Olympique, the by-weekly French rugby newspaper.
“My luck is that one of my best friends, Isileli Vakauta, was offered a scholarship to study at Sacred Heart College in Auckland. But at the same time, he had finally decided to go to Japan. So there was still a place in Auckland, and Isileli appointed me to replace him.
“It was very generous of him because he knew other very good players who had been in the under-16 and under 18 Tonga teams, when I had never been selected. Without him, nothing would have happened.”
Good to catch up with my old coach Boydy after a tough game today. This guy and his staff at The Hurricanes believed in me and gave me the opportunity to play professional rugby. I’ll always appreciate what they’ve done for me pic.twitter.com/buVfiaRE9x
— Loni Uhila (@LoniUhila) January 13, 2019
That breakthrough only got him to a certain level, though, and he was on the verge of quitting the sport when his career was fast-tracked out of the blue to fame and fortune through an unexpected call from Chris Boyd’s Hurricanes, a giant step on the road that has since taken him to France.
“I’m very happy to stay in Clermont for another season. You know, until I was almost 26 years old, I had never managed to live rugby. In New Zealand, I played for Waikato in ITM Cup, but I was never called into Super Rugby.
“To earn a living, I worked for seven years as a storekeeper for a New Zealand company, Pro-Life Food. From 8am to 5pm I emptied containers, while I trained between 6am and 7am and from 6pm to 9pm, practically every day.
“My eldest daughter was asking me why she never saw me. It was hard… in 2015, I told my wife Amanda: if at the end of this season of ITM Cup I have no offer of contract, too bad, I stop rugby.
“And I finally received this call from the Hurricanes, who offered me a two-year contract! Better, for my first season in Super Rugby, in 2016, we literally won the title.”
Sad day as I lost my belt to the Fijian Bear ??? pic.twitter.com/MGTjfXO94V
— Loni Uhila (@LoniUhila) January 14, 2019
It was Carl Hoeft, the former All Black prop who coached the Waikato forwartds, who baptised Uhila as the Tongan Bear, a nickname since reinforced as he used it when he twice fought David Letele in charity boxing bouts.
That nickname is still what he is called today in France, but he needed a second opportunity at Clermont following a false start just his second game to demonstrate the robustness that has now led to a contract extension that will keep him at the club until June 2020.
“For my second Top 14 match against Lyon, I took a red card for a dangerous tackle (on Lionel Beauxis). In the same action, I broke my arm at a place where I had already been operated in New Zealand. At the beginning, it was not so good.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Havili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
7 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
7 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
7 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
61 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to comments