Ofa Tu'ungafasi: the Blues' most capped player, and a try in the record 57-0 win over South Africa

On 16 September 2017, against South Africa at North Harbour Stadium in Albany, the All Blacks won 57-0. In the 114 Tests the two nations have played, it remains the widest margin in RUGBE's All Blacks data, and in the 63rd minute the try that took the score past 40 was scored by a replacement tighthead from Mangere College. It was the only Test try of Ofa Tu'ungafasi's career, and it is a fair place to start the story of a prop who went on to play 68 Tests, two World Cups and more games for the Blues than anyone in the club's history.

From Nuku'alofa to Mangere

Tu'ungafasi was born in Nuku'alofa, Tonga, on 19 April 1992, according to the NZ Rugby Museum's profile on stats.allblacks.com. Rugby was already in the family. His father, Mofuike Tu'ungafasi, was a lock who won five caps for Tonga in 1986 and 1987 and played two matches at the first Rugby World Cup in 1987, his last against Ireland in Brisbane. Four of Mofuike's sons went on to play for Auckland, Wikipedia records, and one of them, Isi Tu'ungafasi, became a professional prop himself, joining his older brother in the Auckland squad in 2015 and later playing Super Rugby for the Crusaders and Moana Pasifika.

The family moved to New Zealand in 2006, Wikipedia notes, citing the NZ Herald, and Ofa went to Mangere College in South Auckland. The Blues' own profile says he came up through the Auckland and Blues development squads while still at school. He was picked for New Zealand Under 17, and the Blues list him in the New Zealand Secondary Schools side of 2010; the Museum's write-up says he made New Zealand Schools for two seasons, playing alongside TJ Perenara. His club in Auckland was Grammar TEC, the club the Museum records him as being selected from.

Auckland and a junior world final

The step up came quickly. Tu'ungafasi made his debut for Auckland in 2012 against Hawke's Bay, Wikipedia says, and the only meeting of the two that season was the ITM Cup opener on 23 August 2012 at McLean Park in Napier, which Auckland won 36-29. Auckland went all the way to the final that year and lost 31-18 to Canterbury in Christchurch on 27 October 2012.

In between, he went to the 2012 IRB Junior World Championship in Cape Town with New Zealand Under 20. He played five matches and scored once, in the semi-final against Wales at Newlands on 17 June 2012, crossing in the 63rd minute of a 30-6 win. New Zealand lost the final to the hosts, South Africa, 22-16 at the same ground on 22 June 2012.

He would play 50 games for Auckland across two spells, according to Wikipedia. In 2021 he signed with Northland for the 2022 season, 1News reported, and played four games for them before returning to Auckland's squad for the 2026 NPC.

The Blues

The Blues named him in their squad for 2013, and his Super Rugby debut came on 13 April 2013 against the Hurricanes at Eden Park. Coach John Kirwan put him on the bench beside Keven Mealamu, and he came on in the 68th minute of a 28-6 win, ESPN's match commentary shows.

He became Blue number 215, and in 2014 he was part of the side that won the World Club Tens. His real chance in the starting side came as two big names left: when Tony Woodcock and Charlie Faumuina moved on, Tagata Pasifika reported, the job of anchoring the Blues scrum fell to him. He can prop on either side of the scrum, and he settled as a tighthead specialist.

On 7 June 2017 the Blues hosted the touring British and Irish Lions at Eden Park in front of 40,639 people. Tu'ungafasi started at loosehead, played 57 minutes, and the Blues won 22-16.

The Blues were Super Rugby Trans-Tasman champions in 2021, and in 2024 came the title they had waited 21 years for. That season, under head coach Vern Cotter, Tu'ungafasi scored six tries, by the club's count. On 22 June 2024 he started at loosehead in the Super Rugby Pacific final against the Chiefs at Eden Park, and the Blues won 41-10 for their fourth title and their first in 21 years.

The milestones that followed were about longevity. On 15 February 2025 he led the Blues out at Eden Park against the Chiefs for his 150th game, becoming only the second player to reach 150 for the club, after Mealamu on 164. A neck injury ended his 2025 season early and needed surgery, Reuters reported in April that year, but he was back in 2026. On 6 June 2026, in the qualifying final against the Crusaders at One New Zealand Stadium in Christchurch, he ran out for his 165th Blues game and passed Mealamu to become the most capped player in the club's history. The Crusaders won 52-31, but the Blues went through to the semi-finals, where they lost 57-21 to the eventual champions, the Hurricanes, at Hnry Stadium in Wellington on 13 June 2026. That took his total to 166 games.

"The Blues holds a special place in my heart," he said when he re-signed in May 2024. Murray Williams, the Blues' head of rugby, said at the same time that "his prowess in the scrum is unmatched."

All Black number 1150

Steve Hansen named Tu'ungafasi in the All Blacks squad for the 2016 series against Wales on 29 May 2016, one of three players of Tongan heritage in the squad alongside Malakai Fekitoa and George Moala, Matangi Tonga reported. He made his debut in the third Test, on 25 June 2016 at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, replacing his Blues team-mate Charlie Faumuina after 53 minutes. Elliot Dixon and Liam Squire debuted the same night, and the All Blacks won 46-6. He added three more Tests that year, including a 68-10 win over Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on 12 November 2016.

In 2017 he played all ten of his Tests off the bench in the No 18 jersey, from a 54-34 win over Australia at ANZ Stadium in Sydney on 19 August 2017 to a 33-18 win over Wales at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on 25 November 2017. The night in Albany was the fourth of them. Beauden Barrett converted his try, one of eight the All Blacks scored, and the Springboks did not score at all.

That year's end-of-season tour brought another distinction. Tu'ungafasi made his first start in the black jersey against the Barbarians at Twickenham on 4 November 2017, packing down at tighthead in a 31-22 win, and he went on to play in all five matches of the tour: the Barbarians, a French XV in Lyon on 14 November 2017, and the Tests against France, Scotland and Wales. Wikipedia notes that only he and Lima Sopoaga appeared in every game.

His first Test start came on 29 September 2018 against Argentina at the Velez Sarsfield stadium in Buenos Aires, at tighthead, in a 35-17 win. Five weeks later, on 3 November 2018, he started at loosehead against Japan at Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo, and the All Blacks won 69-31. Over his career he started six Tests at loosehead and seven at tighthead.

Two World Cups

On 28 August 2019 Hansen named him in the 31-man squad for the World Cup in Japan, and when he took the field, Tu'ungafasi and his father became one of the father-and-son pairs to have played at a Rugby World Cup, as Wikipedia records. He played five matches at the tournament, all from the bench in No 17: the 23-13 opening win over South Africa at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama on 21 September 2019, Canada in Oita, Namibia in Tokyo, the 46-14 quarter-final win over Ireland in Yokohama on 19 October 2019 and the semi-final against England at the same ground on 26 October 2019. The All Blacks finished third.

In 2020, a season reshaped by Covid-19, he started all four Bledisloe Tests at tighthead, beginning with a 16-16 draw at Sky Stadium in Wellington on 11 October 2020 and including a 27-7 win at Eden Park on 18 October 2020 and a 43-5 win at ANZ Stadium in Sydney on 31 October 2020. Earlier that year he had become famous for something else. During the first Covid-19 lockdown he was filmed scrummaging in his backyard against a scrum machine he had welded on to the back of his Ford ute, and the clip made him an internet sensation, the Museum's profile says.

In March 2021 he became the first All Black to commit to New Zealand Rugby beyond the 2023 World Cup, re-signing until 2024. "Myself and my family love it here. It's our home," he told Tagata Pasifika. NZR's Chris Lendrum called him "humble, professional and driven to be the best he can be."

He started the first two Tests of the 2022 series against Ireland, including a 42-19 win at Eden Park on 2 July 2022, and played in all three before a neck injury ruled him out of the tour to South Africa that followed, 1News reported. He was back for the end-of-year tour and came off the bench in a 55-23 win over Wales at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on 5 November 2022.

At the 2023 World Cup in France he came off the bench in the opening match against the hosts at the Stade de France in Paris on 8 September 2023, then started all three of the remaining pool matches at loosehead: a 71-3 win over Namibia in Toulouse on 15 September 2023, a 96-17 win over Italy at Groupama Stadium in Lyon on 29 September 2023 and a 73-0 win over Uruguay at the same ground on 5 October 2023. The All Blacks reached the final and finished runners-up.

His last Test season was his busiest from the bench. Under Scott Robertson in 2024 he wore No 17 in all 11 of his Tests, from a 16-15 win over England in Dunedin on 6 July 2024 to the last of them, a 29-11 win over Italy at Allianz Stadium in Turin on 23 November 2024.

By the numbers

RUGBE's match-by-match All Blacks data gives him 68 Tests, 13 starts, one Test try and 5 Test points, with a win rate the Museum puts at 75.7 per cent, plus two tour matches in 2017. His 55 Tests as a replacement are level with Keven Mealamu for the second most by any All Black, behind only TJ Perenara on 62. His 68 caps put him level with Joe Rokocoko as the 35th most capped All Black, and among props only Tony Woodcock, Owen Franks and Wyatt Crockett have played more Tests.

He was not finished with the All Blacks in 2026. On 23 August 2026, after the 33-16 first-Test win over South Africa at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, Dave Rennie called him into the touring squad as injury cover alongside Jamie Hannah, allblacks.com announced. He did not add to his Tests on that tour.

Style and standing

The Museum's profile calls him "softly-spoken" and "a defensive rock and big man". Leon MacDonald, who coached him at the Blues, told Tagata Pasifika in 2021: "On the field, Ofa is our anchor." Wikipedia singles out his tackling in the third Bledisloe Test of 2017 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on 21 October 2017, when he flattened Bernard Foley and Lukhan Tui.

Off the field

The Museum notes that he has studied social work, with a particular focus on young people. In 2015, the Blues record, he shaved off his dreadlocks to raise money for Starship Children's Hospital, and the club has also credited him with supporting the Best Foot Forward for Tonga appeal and its community work after the extreme weather in Auckland in 2023. In 2025 he made a cameo in the Apple TV+ series Chief of War, alongside former All Blacks Frank Bunce, Piri Weepu, Kees Meeuws, Troy Flavell, Pita Alatini and Rene Ranger, Rova reported.

Where he is now

On 3 November 2026 the French club Clermont announced that Tu'ungafasi had joined them for three months as injury cover, with front-rowers Cristian Ojovan and Sacha Lotrian injured and tighthead Regis Montagne away with France. "This is a fantastic opportunity that we've seized," Clermont head coach Christophe Urios said in the club's statement, reported by AFP.

He is due back in Auckland for the 2027 Super Rugby Pacific season, which opens on 12 February 2027. He is in their 2027 squad, part of a front row the club says Joshua Fusitu'a, Marcel Renata and Tu'ungafasi will lead under new head coach Jason Holland, and he will be 35 by the time the World Cup comes round in Australia later that year.

Career at a glance

Test figures are from RUGBE's match-by-match All Blacks data to 17 October 2026. Blues games are from club team sheets to 13 June 2026; provincial figures are from Wikipedia.