Welsh rugby club, the Cardiff Blues, honoured their most capped player Taufa’ao Filise at a special testimonial dinner last week. The dinner celebrated a decade of service to the club by Taufa’ao.
The 38 year-old Prop from Malapo and former ‘Ikale Tahi player has played 215 games for the Cardiff Blues since he was recruited in 2006. During his career, Taufa’ao helped the Cardiff Blues to win prestigious tournaments such as the European Challenge Cup and EDF Energy Cup. His contract has been recently extended by the club.
He was paid tribute by his team mates. Former All Black, Xavier Rush stated "One of the proudest moments I have had being a Cardiff Blues former player is to have someone as humble as Fa'ao and as popular as Fa'ao getting the accolades and adoration he deserves after 10 years at this club and over 200 caps when he has given his all.”
Wales’ most capped international Gethin Jenkins said, “He's been a great servant to the club and it's been a pleasure to play with him for eight to ten years now –He's a great ambassador for the game and does his talking on the field."
Former Welsh international, Martyn Williams said "It's been an absolute privilege to play alongside Fa'ao for all those years. He’s an absolute machine of a tighthead and I'll never forget the try against Toulouse. He bounced off players and gassed Clement Poitrenaud and Vincent Clerc over 30 metres”.
Taufa’ao is also widely remembered for his line break against the All Blacks for the Pacific Islanders in 2005, setting up a try for recently passed Fijian international, Seru Rabeni (1978 – 2016).
