By the time Christian Tuipulotu made it back to the Mate Ma’a Tonga dressing room on Saturday night you couldn’t wipe the smile off his face, despite his Test debut having just ended in a 26-6 defeat at the hands of New Zealand.
In addition to it being his first outing on the international stage, the match at Mount Smart Stadium presented the 21-year-old Manly winger with the chance to play in front of his family and friends for the first time in his top-flight career.
The pandemic meant that Tuipulotu’s Auckland-based family hadn’t been able to get to Australia to watch any of his NRL Telstra Premiership matches since his debut in 2020 with the Roosters.
Hailing from Otahuhu, the south Auckland suburb which neighbours Mount Smart Stadium and has become the epicentre of Tongan support when they play in New Zealand, Tuipulotu had a huge contingent of supporters in the stands.
Mate Ma'a Tonga's Sipi Tau
Along with most of his teammates, he circled the stadium post-match to spend time with some of the capacity crowd of over 26,000.
“They all came out, the whole family was in the crowd,” Tuipulotu told NRL.com.
“It was pretty mad to finally be home and play a game in front of them and it was just so good to see them.
“I know it was a special moment for my parents. They both come from Tonga and moved to New Zealand for a better life, so this means everything to them.”
The family reunion wasn’t the only reason for celebration, with Tuipulotu also emerging as one of his side’s top performers at the end of a tough outing where they found themselves down 12-0 after just eight minutes.
The powerhouse back led Tonga in metres gained with 163 and came up with just one error, despite being heavily targeted by New Zealand on a wet evening in Auckland.
Tupouniua puts the hurt on Roosters teammate Manu
Tonga’s acting head coach Dean Young said Tuipulotu and his Manly teammate Tolutau Koula headed up a list of impressive performances from Tonga’s nine debutants.
“If I was going to pick out two young players I thought Christian and Tolu Koala at the back were absolutely outstanding,” Young said.
“I just thought they attacked the game all night. They were brave, they went after everything and the two of them have a real bright future.
We will take heaps of out this week. We had nine guys tonight make their debut, that’s a huge effort and exciting times for Tonga.
Dean Young Tonga's acting head coach
“They are going to learn plenty from this game and this experience and moving forward it is an exciting time for Tonga at the World Cup and hopefully years to come.”