Quinn Tupaea

Quinn Puketahinga Claude Tupaea (/tuːˈpʌɪˈjə/; born 10 May 1999) is a New Zealand professional rugby union player who plays as a centre for New Zealand province Waikato. In his youth career, he was selected to play in the 2019 World Rugby Under 20 Championships for New Zealand and took part in Hamilton Boys' High School first XV, the top representative team in secondary school.

Quinn Tupaea

Tupaea representing the All Blacks against Italy in 2021
Full name	Quinn Puketahinga Claude Tupaea
Date of birth	(1999-05-10) 10 May 1999 (age 26)
Place of birth	Hamilton, New Zealand
Height	187 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	102 kg (225 lb; 16 st 1 lb)
School	Hamilton Boys' High School
Rugby union career
Position(s) Centre, Wing Current team Waikato, Chiefs Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 2018– Waikato 32 (95) 2020– Chiefs 48 (40) Correct as of 19 October 2024 International career Years Team Apps (Points) 2019 New Zealand U20 7 (20) 2020- Māori All Blacks 3 (0) 2021– New Zealand 14 (10) 2024- All Blacks XV 2 (5) Correct as of 10 October 2024

Early life

Quinn Tupaea was born on 10 May 1999 in Hamilton, the son of Brent and Kelly Tupaea.^[1] He attended Southwell School and Hamilton Boys' High School.^{[citation needed]}

Professional career

Waikato

In May 2018, Waikato signed Tupaea for their 2018 Mitre 10 Cup season at 19 years old.^[2] He made his first professional team debut when he made the match-day fifteen at centre during the opening match against Manawatu at Central Energy Trust Arena.^[3] Tupaea became a regular starter, starting in eleven from twelve appearances and scoring seven tries.^[4] He also was a part of Waikato's historic Ranfurly Shield victory over Taranaki and their impressive top of the table finish.^[5] Tupaea finished sixth equal as leading try scorer in the Mitre 10 Cup, including scoring a brace of tries against Bay of Plenty and Northland.^[6] At seasons end, he achieved championship success after defeating Otago in order to gain promotion back into the top division and was awarded Emerging Player of the Year at the Waikato Rugby awards.^[7]

In an ultimately disappointing 2019 Mitre 10 Cup season for Waikato, in which the team narrowly avoided relegation to the Championship, Tupaea was a standout player for both Waikato and among all of the Mitre 10 Cup players. He proved to be one of the most consistently high performing centres in the competition, finishing 5th on the try-scoring table, with 7 tries in 9 games.^{[citation needed]}

Chiefs

On the back of the 2019 Mitre 10 Cup season, Tupaea was announced^[8] in the Chiefs Super Rugby squad for the 2020 Super Rugby season, at the age of 20.

International career

Tupaea made his international debut for New Zealand on 3 July 2021 against Tonga at Auckland.^[9][10][11]

Personal life

Tupaea is a New Zealander of Māori descent (Waikato and Tainui descent).^[12]

Statistics

Club	Year	Competition	GP	GS	TRY	CON	PEN	DGL	PTS	WL%
Waikato	2018†	Bunnings NPC (incl. Ranfurly Shield)	12	11	7	0	0	0	35	66.67	0	0
	2019		9	9	7	0	0	0	35	22.22	0	0
	2020		9	9	5	0	0	0	25	44.44	1	0
	2021†		2	1	0	0	0	0	0	100.00	0	0
Chiefs	2020	Super Rugby Pacific	12	7	1	0	0	0	5	25.00	0	0
	2021		7	6	0	0	0	0	0	71.43	0	0
	2022		15	14	5	0	0	0	25	66.67	2	0
Career			66	57	25	0	0	0	125	51.52	3	0

Updated: 12 June 2022 Source: Quinn P C Tupaea Rugby History

List of international test tries

Try	Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Competition
1	23 October 2021	FedExField, Summerfield, Maryland, United States	United States	14–104 (won)	New Zealand Tour

Updated: 12 June 2022 Source: Quinn P C Tupaea Statsguru