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Mele Hufanga

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Mele Hufanga
Date of birth (1994-10-18) 18 October 1994 (age 30)
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight93 kg (205 lb)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Centre
Provincial / State sides
Years Team Apps (Points)
2011–2018 Auckland 46 (195)
2020 Counties Manukau 6 (5)
Super Rugby
Years Team Apps (Points)
2022 Blues Women 2 (5)
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2022  Tonga 3 (35)
Rugby league career
Playing information
PositionWing, Centre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2022 Ponsonby Ponies 12 10 15 0 70
2023– Brisbane Broncos 13 14 0 0 40
Total 25 24 15 0 110
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2020 Tonga 1 0 0 0 0
2022– New Zealand 7 6 0 0 24
2023 Auckland 1 1 0 0 4

Mele Hufanga (born 18 October 1994) is a New Zealand rugby player. She has competed for Tonga internationally in rugby union, and for Tonga and New Zealand in rugby league.[1][2] She played for the Blues Women in the inaugural season of Super Rugby Aupiki in 2022. She also made her test debut for the Tonga women's national rugby union team. She competed for the Kiwi Ferns at the delayed 2021 Women's Rugby League World Cup.

Rugby union career

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Hufanga scored 16 tries for Auckland in the 2015 Farah Palmer Cup season.[2][1] Hufanga played for Counties Manukau in the 2020 season of the Farah Palmer Cup.[3][1][4] In 2021 she played for the Moana Pasifika women's sevens team at the Takiwhitu Tutūru tournament in Wellington.[5][6][7]

Hufanga signed with the Blues for the inaugural season of Super Rugby Aupiki.[8][9][10] She scored a try in their match against Matatū in round 2 of the 2022 Super Rugby Aupiki season.[11][12][13]

Hufanga captained Tonga at the 2022 Oceania Championship in New Zealand.[14] She scored a brace of tries against Samoa in the opening match of the tournament.[15][16] She scored again against Fiji in their 34–7 loss in the second game.[17][18] She scored four tries in her sides 108–7 trouncing of Papua New Guinea in their final match.[19][20]

Rugby league career

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Hufanga represented Tonga in a test match against Niue in 2020.[21] She competed for the Kiwi Ferns at the delayed 2021 Women's Rugby League World Cup in England.[22][23][24]

BRISBANE BRONCOS

On 22nd of July Mele made her debut for the Brisbane Broncos, She finished the game with the most run metres out of any broncos player with 167. On the 5th of August she scored her first try and her first 4 tries of the season against the Nth Qld Cowboys in which the Brisbane Broncos won 40-12. Hufanga scored a double against the Canberra Raiders on the 27th of August. On the 16th of September Mele picked up yet another double continuing her try scoring season against the St George Illawarra in another big win for the Broncos. She finished the normal season with 10 tries in 9 games as the Brisbane Broncos finished 4th on the ladder, qualifying for finals. Mele played in the Brisbane Broncos only finals match against the eventual NRLW 2023 premiers Newcastle Knights. To complete a quality debut year in the NRLW in which she had impressive stats, she led the league in line breaks, finished 2nd in tackle breaks and tries and average 121 meters gained a game. As well as collecting the season collecting Dally M centre of the year.

After the 2023 NRLW season, Mele represented the Kiwi Ferns in the Pacific Championships. She played in all three of their games scoring 3 tries. She played in the Final against the Australian Jillaroos, scoring her third try of the series.

Prior to the NRLW 2024 season kick off, Mele was put on the 2024 NRLW Player to Watch by the NRL and NRLW, on the NRL Website </ref><ref> [[1]]. She started the season slow, going tryless in the first two games, as the Brisbane Broncos lost their opening two games to the season. But in the Brisbane Broncos recording breaking win against Gold Coast Titans, winning 44-4, while Mele Hufanga picked up 4 tries and running over 200 metres.

References

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  1. ^ a b c Stanley, Ashley (25 May 2021). "Super Rugby: Culture and values a winning recipe for Moana Pasifika". Stuff. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  2. ^ a b "MELE HUFANGA - Tackling Pasifika health challenges head-on". www.thecoconet.tv. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  3. ^ "Talented squad selected for 2020 Farah Palmer Cup Campaign". Counties Manukau Rugby Football Union. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  4. ^ "Counties Manukau: PREVIEW 2020". allblacks.com. 2 September 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  5. ^ "Takiwhitu Tuturu has provided an ideal training ground for NZ". Planet Sevens. 19 April 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  6. ^ "Teams announced for Takiwhitu Tūturu". allblacks.com. 6 April 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  7. ^ "Moana Pasifika women make rugby history". Nukualofa Times. 9 April 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  8. ^ "Inaugural Super Rugby Aupiki squads announced". www.voxy.co.nz. 4 November 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  9. ^ "Women's Super Rugby squads announced for 2022". ClubRugby.nz. 4 November 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  10. ^ "19 Auckland Rugby players named in Super Rugby Aupiki squads". www.aucklandrugby.co.nz. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  11. ^ Burnes, Campbell (15 March 2022). "Blues full of merit in downing Matatū". superrugby.co.nz. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  12. ^ Powell, Alex (15 March 2022). "Super Rugby Aupiki: Blues defeat Matatū to notch first competitive victory in competition debut". Newshub. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  13. ^ Reive, Christopher (15 March 2022). "Super Rugby Aupiki: Strong attack lifts Blues to impressive win over Matatū". NZ Herald. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  14. ^ "Teams ready for first outing of 2022 Oceania Rugby Womens Championship". oceania.rugby. 9 July 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  15. ^ Walker, Sarah (9 July 2022). "2022 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship Team Lists 9 July 2022" (PDF). Oceania Rugby. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  16. ^ "Samoa win in a close match while Fiji dominated day 1 of the Oceania Rugby Women's Championship". oceania.rugby. 9 July 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  17. ^ Walker, Sarah (13 July 2022). "2022 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship Team List 13 July 2022" (PDF). Oceania Rugby. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  18. ^ "Samoa and Fiji Win Again to Set Up Championship Decider". oceania.rugby. 14 July 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  19. ^ Walker, Sarah (17 July 2022). "2022 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship Team Lists 17 July 2022" (PDF). Oceania Rugby. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  20. ^ "Fijiana win Oceania Rugby Womens Championship in a thriller". oceania.rugby. 17 July 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  21. ^ "Mele Hufanga". New Zealand Rugby League. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  22. ^ Walter, Brad (18 November 2022). "'I've always had my eye on league': Hufanga ready for NRLW move". National Rugby League. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  23. ^ Long, David (5 November 2022). "Code hopping Mele Hufanga finds her home at Kiwi Ferns for Rugby League World Cup". Stuff. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  24. ^ Dahal, Manish (17 November 2022). "Mele Hufanga: 5 Facts On New Zealand Rugby Player". sportslulu.com. Retrieved 20 November 2022.

https://www.nrl.com/draw/?competition=161&round=10&season=2023 https://www.nrl.com/players/womens-premiership/brisbane-broncos-women/mele-hufanga/ https://www.nrl.com/draw/pacific-championships-women/2023/round-3/game-1/ https://www.nrl.com/news/2024/07/08/nrlw-players-to-watch-in-2024-mele-hufanga/

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