Vai Toutai

Vai Toutai
Toutai playing for the Wentworthville Magpies in 2012.
Personal information
Full name Vai Afu Toutai
Born (1993-01-28) 28 January 1993
Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia
Height 186 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight 103 kg (16 st 3 lb)
Playing information
Position Wing, Centre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2013– Parramatta Eels 33 15 0 0 60
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2014–16 Tonga 2 0 0 0 0
Source: [1]

Vai Toutai (born 28 January 1993) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the Parramatta Eels in the National Rugby League. A Tongan international representative, he plays at centre and wing.

Background

Born in Campbelltown, New South Wales, Toutai is of Tongan descent and attended Eagle Vale High School. He played his junior rugby league for Campbelltown City Kangaroos and Fairfield United before being signed by the Parramatta Eels.[2]

Playing career

2013

Toutai played for the Eels NYC team in 2011 and 2012, scoring 12 tries in 29 games.[3] In Round 2 of the 2013 NRL season, Toutai made his NRL debut for the Eels against the Bulldogs, replacing injured winger Ken Sio in the Eels 20-16 loss at ANZ Stadium.[4] In his next match in Round 3 against the Wests Tigers, Toutai scored his NRL first try in the Eels 31-18 loss at Leichhardt Oval.[5] Toutai finished off his debut year with him playing in 15 matches and scoring 4 tries (16p).

2014

On 14 February 2014, Toutai was selected in the Eels inaugural 2014 NRL Auckland Nines squad.[6] In Round 1 against the New Zealand Warriors, Toutai scored a hatrick in the Eels 36-16 win at Parramatta Stadium.[7] On 5 June 2014, Toutai extended his contract with the Eels for a further 3 years till the end of the 2017 season.[8] In Round 23 against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium, Toutai was the centre of the Eels controversial 18-16 loss after Toutai received a pass from the Eels ball boy after halfback Chris Sandow kicked a 40/20 then Toutai passing the ball to Sandow to race over to score the winning try for the Eels but was disallowed after the ball boy didn't place the ball on the ground.[9][10] Toutai finished off the Eels 2014 season having played in 10 matches and scoring 8 tries. On 16 October 2014, he was named in the Tonga squad to play against the Papua New Guinea national rugby league team in Lae.[11] He played on the wing in Tonga's 32-18 loss.[12]

2015

Toutai appeared in two matches for the Eels in the 2015 season.[13]

2016

On 1 February, Toutai was named in the Eels' 2016 NRL Auckland Nines squad.[14] On 7 May, he played for Tonga against Samoa in the 2016 Polynesian Cup.[15]

References

  1. "Vai Toutai - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. 1993-01-28. Retrieved 2016-05-08.
  2. "2010 Parramatta Eels SG Ball Squad [Archive] - The Front Row Forum :: Rugby League". Forums.leagueunlimited.com. 2012-03-15. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  3. Archived 18 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. "Parramatta Eels Take on the Cantebury Bulldogs in NRL Round 2". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  5. "Wests Tigers v Parramatta Eels". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  6. "Squads For Auckland Nines". Rugby League Week. 2014-02-14. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  7. "Hat Trick Heroes Semi Radradra, Vai Toutai Inspire Electric Eels to Win over Warriors". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  8. "Parramatta Eels Safeguard Their Future After Re-Signing Manu Mau, Kenny Edwards and Vai Toutai". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  9. Adam Pengilly (2014-08-15). "Parramatta coach Brad Arthur rages at referees' handling of ballboy pass to Vai Toutai". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  10. Dean, Sarah. "Ball boy blamed for ruining Parramatta Eels' final hopes is 'crying himself to sleep'". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  11. "Png & Tonga Squads Named For Test Match". Rugby League Week. 2014-10-16. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  12. "PNG beat Tonga in Lae". Loverugbyleague.com. 2014-10-19. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  13. "Custom Match List". Rugby League Project. 2015-12-14. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  14. "Eels name 2016 Nines squad". Rugby League Week. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
  15. "Samoa holds on in pulsating Pacific Test". nrl.com. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
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