A firm favourite at the Arms Park Taufa’ao Filise played 253 times for Cardiff Blues and also made 2 appearances for the Blue and Blacks. Nicknamed ‘The King of Tonga’ by the Arms Park crowd, the giant front row forward joined the Cardiff Blues from Bath in 2006. Filise, grew up in Tonga and went to Tupou College in Nuku’alofa. In 2000 he joined Bay of Plenty in New Zealand and later the Auckland Blues Super Rugby side, where he played alongside former Cardiff Blues Number 8, Xavier Rush. Filise represented Tonga 29 times and was a member of their 2007 and 2011 Rugby World Cup squads. He made his final appearance for Cardiff Blues in the 2018 European Challenge Cup Final at the San Mames Stadium in Bilbao as part of the team that defeated Gloucester 31 – 30. His reputation with the Arms Park supporters was enhanced even more when the day after the Cup Final he travelled home on the same flight as the supporters, rather than travelling back with the team a day later, in order to take his son to a swimming gala.
