Pita Alatini

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Pita Alatini
Full name	Pita Faiva-ki-moana Alatini
Date of birth	1976-04-11
Place of birth	Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Height	1.79 m
Weight	90 kg
Rugby union career
Position	Centre
Professional clubs
	Suntory Sungoliath Kamaishi Seawaves			- -
correct as of .
Provincial/State sides		Caps	(points)
	Counties-Manukau Southland Otago Wellington	30 - - -	(-) (-) (-) (-)
correct as of .
Super Rugby
	Crusaders Chiefs Highlanders Hurricanes	5 3 - -	(-) (-) (-) (-)
Current local club:	(-) (-)
correct as of .
National team(s)
1999	New Zealand	20	(35)
correct as of 1 Sept 2001.
Other Information
School attended	King's College
University	Otago University
Spouse	Megan Alatini
Children	Tonica (daughter) Tiara (daughter) Trey (son)
Notable relatives	Anthony Alatini Sam Alatini

Pita Faiva-ki-moana Alatini (born 11 April, 1976 in Nuku'alofa) is a Tongan-born New Zealand rugby union footballer. Alatini is a midfield back who played in 17 tests for the All Blacks between 1999 and 2001, scoring 6 test tries.

Alatini played 81 NPC matches for four different provinces (Counties-Manukau, Southland, Otago, and Wellington), and 72 Super 12 matches for four different franchises (Crusaders, Chiefs, Highlanders, and Hurricanes). He has also played professionally in Japan for Suntory Sungoliath and Kamaishi Seawaves.

Alatini is married to pop singer and actress Megan Alatini. His brothers Anthony and Sam Alatini have played for the Tonga national rugby union team.

1 Career overview
- 1.1 All Black career
2 Notes
3 References

[edit] Career overview

Alatini moved to Auckland from Tonga as a child. He attended King's College, and played for the national secondary school side in 1993-94 and the national under-19 team in 1995. He played 30 matches for the Counties-Manukau NPC team in 1995-96, and five matches for the Crusaders in the Super 12 in 1996. He represented the New Zealand Colts and played three Super 12 matches for the Chiefs in 1997

In 1997-98, Alatini played for Southland in the NPC, and began to specialise as a midfielder (up until then, he had often played as a fullback). Alatini played for the Highlanders in the Super 12 from 1998 to 2001, and it was during this time that he became a regular selection for the All Blacks.

In 2002 and 2003, Alatini played for the Hurricanes in the Super 12 and Wellington in the NPC. By this time, he had fallen out of favor with the All Black selectors, and he moved to Japan to play for Suntory Sungoliath. In 2006, he left Suntory to play for Kamaishi Seawaves.^[1]

[edit] All Black career

Alatini made his debut for the All Blacks on June 11, 1999, in a 22-11 victory over New Zealand A at Jade Stadium. He played his first test on June 26, 1999, in a 54-7 victory over France at Athletic Park. He was selected for the 1999 Rugby World Cup squad, playing in a pool match against Italy which the All Blacks won 101-3, and coming on as a replacement for Tana Umaga in the third-place playoff against South Africa, which South Africa won 22-18.

Alatini was the All Blacks' first choice second five-eighth during the 2000 Tri Nations, and was selected for the All Blacks' end-of-year tour to France and Italy. He was dropped from the starting line-up for the tests against France, with the selectors preferring Daryl Gibson at second five-eighth. He played as an unused reserve in the second test against France, and started the test against Italy. He regained his place as the All Blacks' first choice second five-eighth for the 2001 domestic tests and Tri Nations. Alatini played his last test for the All Blacks on September 1, 2001, in a 29-26 loss to Australia at Stadium Australia.

After the 2001 Tri Nations, the All Blacks coaches Wayne Smith and Tony Gilbert were replaced by John Mitchell and Robbie Deans. Alatini was selected for the All Blacks for the last time on the 2001 tour of Ireland and Argentina. He was relegated to the mid-week team, with the new coaches preferring Aaron Mauger at second five-eighth for the test matches.