Clinton Toopi

Clinton Toopi

Personal information
Full name	Clinton James Te-Whata Toopi
Born	(1980-02-29)29 February 1980 Stratford, New Zealand
Playing information
Height	185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	100 kg (15 st 10 lb)
Rugby league
Position	Centre
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1999–06 Auckland Warriors 129 57 0 0 228 2006–08 Leeds Rhinos 47 10 0 0 40 2010–11 Gold Coast Titans 27 6 0 0 24 Total 203 73 0 0 292 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 2000–10 New Zealand Māori 4 2 0 0 8 2001–07 New Zealand 22 11 0 0 44
Rugby union
Position	Centre
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 2009 Bay of Plenty
Source:

Clinton James Te-Whata Toopi(born 29 February 1980) is a New Zealand former professionalrugby leagueandrugby unionfootballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. A New Zealand international representativecentre,he played his club football in theNational Rugby Leaguefor theNew Zealand Warriorsand theGold Coast Titans,and in theSuper Leaguefor theLeeds Rhinos.Clinton began coaching the Helensvale Hornets in 2021 and guided them to victory in the 2022 Gold Coast A Grade Competition.

Rugby league career

Toopi was born inStratford, New Zealand,and began his career playingrugby leaguewith the junior ranks of the Mt Wellington andOtahuhu Leopardsclubs. He played for Auckland South in the 1999 provincial competition.Hisfirst gradecareer began with the thenAuckland Warriors,débuting against theSouth Sydney Rabbitohson 2 May 1999. He went on to play 119 games for the club, including the2002 NRL Grand Finalloss to theSydney Roosters.

In 2000 Toopi was part of theAotearoa Maoriside that played at theWorld Cup.

Toopi represented New Zealand on twelve occasions between 2001 and 2005. Toopi played for the Kiwis 14 times. He scored three tries in one match against Australia in the 2005 Tri Nations.

On 31 May 2006Leeds Rhinosannounced the capture of Toopi for the 2007 season as a replacement forChev Walker.On 17 July he was granted an early release from the New Zealand Warriors so he could join the Rhinos for the rest of the season, this was granted the day before the deadline to register players in Super League. He made his début on 4 August 2006 against Hull FC.

Rugby union career

On 23 August 2008 Leeds released Toopi, due to a knee reconstruction that would keep him out of action for 9 months. He attracted interest from the Japanese rugby union clubSanyo Wild Knights,and expressed interest in joining theManly Sea Eaglesin theNational Rugby Leaguecompetition however he did not secure a contract.

Toopi instead returned to New Zealand and switched torugby union,joining theWhakatane Maristteam in theEastern Bayrugby unioncompetition. On 18 June 2009 it was announced that he had made theBay of Plenty Rugby Union's squad for theAir New Zealand Cup.He agreed to join the Gold Coast Titans for 2010.

Return to league

During the 2010 pre-season Toopi trialed with theGold Coast Titans.He did enough to impress management and earn a one-year contract.This was later extended for the 2011 season. He retired at the end of 2011.

Toopi again played for the New Zealand Māori in 2010, captaining the side againstEngland.

Match Fit

In 2023, Toopi participated in season 3 ofMatch Fit,where former rugby players return to play against the Australian counterparts. He joined in the first season that featured formerrugby leaguestars.On episode 3, he revealed he currently resides inGold Coast, Australia.Throughout the first third of the 15-week program, his heart rate kept topping out even though he feels no ill effects, which suggest he has lower than expected aerobic endurance, he thought it was due tojet lag.

External links

• (archived by web.archive.org)Profile at leedsrugby