Rugby ATL re-signed Duane “Big Toko” Aholelei through the 2023 Major League Rugby season. The 31-year-old prop is 6’2″ and 285 lbs and will be 32 at the beginning of the regular season.
In Rugby ATL’s inaugural season, Aholelei played in 4 of the 5 matches, and his experience, leadership, and contribution to the locker room earned him a contract extension.
In 2008, Duane, who was born in Tonga, signed his first professional contract with the Manly Marlins in Australia. After playing there for three seasons in the Shute Shield, and with Waitoshi in Picton, New Zealand. He also played with ASM Clermont Auvergive as a medical joker in 2019 where he played in three matches against Bayonne, Brive, and Bordeaux. He also played for the Tasman Red Devils in the Seddon Shield in 2019.
Tonga National Team
Duane played with Tonga A from 2012-2018. He played in the Americas Pacific Challenge in 2017 and 2018. Rugby ATL Head Coach Scott Lawrence was the competing USA Coach in Montevideo, Uruguay in 2018.
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