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New Signing: Josh Taumalolo
By The Prof June 17 2003
Josh Taumalolo has a reputation for being a strong runner and a ferocious tackler. He has played for Tonga both at sevens and at fifteens where he has represented his nation 26 times, the last time being in November 2001 when he played against both Wales and Scotland.
Name: Siua (Josh) Taumalolo Taumalolo
Position: Full back/Centre
Weight: 15st 5lbs (93Kg)
Height: 5' 10" (1.78m)
Date of Birth: 08/07/1976
Previous Teams: Ebbw Vale, Bridgend
Signed for: 2 years (2003/4 – 2004/5 seasons)
Representative Honours: Tonga (26 tests), Tonga 7s, U21, U19

Josh joins us from Bridgend where he has been for three years, although two years ago he signed a new five year contract which suggests that he is someone that the management at Bridgend thought was worth having around for a long time. The uncertainty that plagues Welsh rugby and the fact that Bridgend and Pontypridd are merging has given us the chance to sign this fine fullback.

In 1999 he was Tonga’s top try scorer and he played a small role in Tonga’s presence in their World Cup squad. Their first game was against New Zealand when he was sent off for a high tackle on Jonah Lomu and received a 21 day ban which meant he missed the group games against England and Italy.

In 2001 he played for Bridgend against the team that three of our new signings have come from, Leinster, and on that September day he was noted for his “searing attacks from fullback”.

Over the years he has been given a number of man of the match awards by both Ebbw Vale and Bridgend and in that time he has scored a number of tries, but he has also received his fair share of cards for dangerous tackling.

Phrases like ‘menacing runner’, ‘inspirational’, ‘the Tongan full back tore through the defence’ litter match reports and in March 1998 he was the first Tongan to play for the Barbarians in their 73-19 trouncing of Leicester. In what was the highest amount ever scored against Leicester. Taumalolo scored three tries and kicked nine conversions. (NB The match was refereed by our old favourite S.Lander).

He has suffered his fair amount of injuries with a lengthy lay off of more than a year with a knee injury (cruciate and medial ligament damage) he picked up against Castres in January 2002. Let’s hope he doesn’t give our medical team too many problems while he’s with us.

In his international career he has scored eight tries including a couple against France, he was often regarded as Tonga’s most exciting player, let’s hope he can bring the same level of skill and commitment to The Stoop.

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