Pita Alatini was a nimble footed midfield back who was one of New Zealand's leading players from the mid 1990s through to the early 2000s, though he never quite established an unchallenged position in the All Blacks. He played in 20 matches, including 17 tests, in the 1999-2001 seasons, though several of his appearances were from the reserves bench.

Within New Zealand Alatini was one of the game's most travelled players and once he fell out of favour at national level in the 2002-03 seasons it became inevitable that he would join the overseas exodus.

Because of travels Alatini played NPC rugby for four different unions, Counties-Manukau, Southland, Otago and Wellington (81 matches in all) and his 72 Super 12 matches were for four of New Zealand's five franchises: Crusaders, Chiefs, Highlanders and Hurricanes.

Tongan born, and the son of a member of the Tongan team in New Zealand in 1969, Alatini came to New Zealand as a child and quickly showed exceptional ability in south Auckland. His prowess in his intermediate school days was such that he was able to go, on what might loosely be called a "scholarship," to one of Auckland's more exclusive schools, King's College, where he played in the same first XVs and formed an inside back pairing with the later Auckland and Waikato halfback, Ben Willis.

Alatini was quickly identified in the national system and was in significant age group sides such as the national under 19s (1995) and national secondary schools (1993/94).

Still a teenager, he played for Counties-Manukau (30 matches in 1995-96) and in 1996, after appearing as a replacement from the draft in five matches for the Crusaders, he had four matches for New Zealand Colts in 1997.

In his early years Alatini was often used at fullback but in 1997-98 with Southland (21 matches) he began to specialise at either second five eighths or centre. He was only a standby player with the Chiefs in 1997, making only three Super 12 appearances, but his move south saw him gain more chances.

Through 1998 to 2001 he was a regular choice for the Highlanders and in 1997-98 he was in national academy sides before winning promotion as an Otago representative for the All Blacks in 1999. However, that year he was used in the squad only in a backup role. He made his debut in the match against New Zealand A and in the domestic tests that season his only other appearance was from the bench against France at Athletic Park. At the World Cup he played only the pool match against Italy and came on as a replacement in the third-fourth playoff against South Africa.

In the 2000 and 2001 seasons Alatini had a more settled place in the All Blacks. In 2000 he played in six of the domestic tests of 2000, scoring a try when he played with considerable flair in the spectacular Bledisloe Cup test in Sydney and another in the earlier test in Dunedin against Scotland. On the end of year tour of France and Italy, however, he only played the international against Italy.

In the 2001 domestic and tri-nations he was again a first choice at second five eighths and he appeared in all seven tests, scoring two tries against Argentina in Christchurch and one each against South Africa in Auckland and Australia in Sydney.

The switch in coaches from Wayne Smith and Tony Gilbert to John Mitchell and Robbie Deans soon after that Sydney match proved to be the downfall at national level for Alatini. He was taken on the tour of Scotland, Ireland and Argentina but lost his test spot to Aaron Mauger and was given only the midweek matches against Ireland A and Scotland A.

Alatini moved to the Hurricanes and Wellington for the 2002 Super 12 and NPC. He played 11 Super 12 matches and 10 games for Wellington but did not regain the confidence of the new national selection and coaching panel. After another five games for the Hurricanes and four for Wellington in 2003 Alatini faded out of New Zealand rugby. In 191 first class matches he scored 61 tries.

Profile by Lindsay Knight
for the New Zealand Rugby Museum.

FULL NAME

Pita Faiva-ki-moana Alatini

BORN

Sunday, 11 April 1976 in Nuku'alofa

AGE

34

PHYSICAL

1.79m, 90kg

POSITION

Second five-eighth

LAST SCHOOL

King's College

RUGBY CLUB
(First made All Blacks from)

Otago University

PROVINCE

Otago

ALL BLACK DEBUT

Friday, 11 June 1999
v New Zealand 'A' at Christchurch
aged 23 years, 61 days

INTERNATIONAL DEBUT

Saturday, 26 June 1999
v France at Wellington
aged 23 years, 76 days

LAST TEST

Saturday, 1 September 2001
v Australia at Sydney
aged 25 years, 143 days

ALL BLACK TESTS

17 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK GAMES

3 (0 as Captain)

TOTAL ALL BLACK MATCHES

20 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK TEST POINTS

30pts (6t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK GAME POINTS

5pts (1t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

TOTAL ALL BLACK POINTS

35pts (7t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK NUMBER

979

The All Black Games that Alatini played.
(+) = substitute; (-) = replaced

Click on the date to be taken to the Match Card

1999

 11 Jun vs New Zealand 'A' at Christchurch 22-11  

 26 Jun vs France at Wellington 54-7 (+) 

 14 Oct vs Italy at Huddersfield 101-3  

 4 Nov vs South Africa at Cardiff 18-22 (+) 

2000

 16 Jun vs Tonga at Albany 102-0  

 24 Jun vs Scotland at Dunedin 69-20  

 15 Jul vs Australia at Sydney 39-35  

 22 Jul vs South Africa at Christchurch 25-12  

 5 Aug vs Australia at Wellington 23-24  

 19 Aug vs South Africa at Johannesburg 40-46  

 25 Nov vs Italy at Genova 56-19 (-) 

2001

 16 Jun vs Samoa at Albany 50-6 (-) 

 23 Jun vs Argentina at Christchurch 67-19  

 30 Jun vs France at Wellington 37-12  

 21 Jul vs South Africa at Cape Town 12-3  

 11 Aug vs Australia at Dunedin 15-23  

 25 Aug vs South Africa at Auckland 26-15  

 1 Sep vs Australia at Sydney 26-29  

 13 Nov vs Ireland 'A' at Belfast 43-30  

 20 Nov vs Scotland 'A' at Perth 35-13  

Points scored for the All Blacks

t

c

p

dg

pts

vs Scotland, 24 Jun 2000

1

-

-

-

5

vs Australia, 15 Jul 2000

1

-

-

-

5

vs Argentina, 23 Jun 2001

2

-

-

-

10

vs South Africa, 25 Aug 2001

1

-

-

-

5

vs Australia, 1 Sep 2001

1

-

-

-

5

vs Scotland 'A', 20 Nov 2001

1

-

-

-

5

Totals

7

0

0

0

35

Test Record by Nation

P

W

D

L

t

c

p

dg

pts

Argentina

1

1

-

-

2

-

-

-

10

Australia

4

1

-

3

2

-

-

-

10

France

2

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Italy

2

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Samoa

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Scotland

1

1

-

-

1

-

-

-

5

South Africa

5

3

-

2

1

-

-

-

5

Tonga

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Totals

17

12

0

5

6

0

0

0

30