How a Falcon learnt to fly

Tane Tu'ipulotu is Newcastle's Tongan-born centre and Riki Flutey's former Wellington sparring partner. He tells Simon Turnbull why chasing pigs and chickens with a machete made him the player he is today

Conducting an audience in the function room next to the East Stand bar, Tane Tu'ipulotu gives a sheepish grin at the mention of his majestic moniker. Could it be that the Tongan, whose regal midfield presence has helped to inspire the spectacular turnaround in the Falcons' season, simply happens to be a red-hot, pelvis-gyrating Elvis impersonator? The suggestion does not quite leave him all shook up but meets with a shake of the head.

"No," Tu'ipulotu says. "It was at a time when the Tongan king had passed away and they were looking for a new king. The lads in the Wellington team were joking around, putting my name out there, chanting: 'King, king, king.' It's a pity their voices weren't heard in Tonga, but I was Tongan king to them, in Wellington."

And now, having helped Wellington to the Ranfurly Shield and to the final of the Air New Zealand Cup last autumn (they were beaten 7-6 by Richie McCaw's Canterbury in the final), the uncrowned Tongan has been busy making a name for himself on Tyneside. And making his mark on the scoreboard, at long last.

The five-phase move that Tu'ipulotu finished off in the 14-10 home win against Leicester last week was his first try in 18 starts for Newcastle. He had jokingly mooted the prospect of celebrating his first try for the club by snatching a corner flag and attempting to lever himself over the crossbar – utilising the skills that earned him the New Zealand under-19 pole vault title a decade ago. As it happened, the one-time Sergei Bubka of the South Pacific merely settled for a thankful pat on the back of the Falcon who had supplied the scoring pass for him, full-back Alex Tait.

His touchdown was rather a long time in coming. It was his first since a 45-33 Wellington win against Waikato back on 13 September. "I've never been one of those try-scoring centres," he volunteers. Perhaps not. But the tall, willowy Tongan is one of those centres who can ghost through the most crowded of traffic and furnish scoring opportunities for others.

There has been an increasing number of such mercurial midfield breaks by the former Wellington Hurricane and Junior All Black as Newcastle have turned around their season with what might be described as the greatest comeback since Lazarus – since Queens Park Rangers came from 2-0 behind to snatch a 3-2 victory with a Mark Lazarus goal in the League Cup football final of 1967, that is.

The Evening Chronicle gave Tu'ipulotu nine out of 10 for the manner in which he outshone Aaron Mauger, the one-time All Black, in last week's win against Leicester, the Falcons' seventh victory in eight games. "Such a vital fulcrum," the Tyneside paper said of the 27-year-old inside centre.

"They must have been watching someone else out there," Tu'ipulotu says, with tongue not entirely in cheek, it transpires. "No, I can play a lot better," he continues. "I think there's a lot to improve on. I haven't been playing as good rugby as I know I can play. But I guess I've always been like that – never satisfied on each performance. Hopefully one day before I retire I'll be satisfied with a game, so that I can go in peace... from rugby."

The striving for perfection doubtlessly comes from being a graduate of the centres of excellence at Wellington. In his four years with the Hurricanes in the Super 12 and Super 14, and with the Wellington Lions in domestic provincial competition, Tu'ipulotu had to vie for time in the 12 and 13 shirts with the likes of Tana Umaga, Conrad Smith and Ma'a Nonu. Oh yes, and with the player he had been expecting to face when the Falcons take their flying form to Adams Park tomorrow – before Wasps decided to give Riki Flutey a day off and detail Josh Lewsey to inside-centre duty.

"Yeah, Riki was there when I arrived in Wellington in 2004," Tu'ipulotu says. "We had a good two seasons together there. We also played a lot of colts rugby together. Good lad. He's one of those guys you need in teams. It's just his character. He's a typical Maori lad."

Ahem, after Flutey's nine caps for his adopted country and four Six Nations tries, that should be "typical English lad," surely? Tu'ipulotu laughs at his unintentional venture into rugby union's nationality minefield. "Riki's always been a talented player," he says. "At Wellington he was behind a lot of good players but I'm very happy to see him playing at the standard he is now. And I wish him well on the Lions selection. All the best to him on that."

Much has been made of the fact that Flutey is in line for selection for the British and Irish Lions this summer, having played against them for Wellington four years ago. In fact, Tu'ipulotu and Nonu were the centres for Wellington for the entirety of that 23-6 defeat, inflicted with the help of 13 points from the boot of Jonny Wilkinson, with whom "the King" has yet to strike up an on-field partnership for Newcastle. Flutey was a 74th-minute replacement for Piri Weepu at scrum-half that day – reprising the role he performed in the New Zealand Under-19s team who won their age group World Championship in 1999.

"I think with Riki it helps that in the past he's played a lot at 10 and nine," Tu'ipulotu says, reflecting on the differences between his 6ft 2in self and the 5ft 10in Flutey. "He's got a half-back sort of a background, so he's good at taking ball to the line and at using his footwork a bit. Whereas me... I'm just running off players, looking to make those little breaks for the boys outside, creating the space for them."

There is another notable difference. Flutey, a born and bred Kiwi and a former New Zealand Maori player, gave up the All Black dream to become part of England's plans for the 2011 World Cup in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Tu'ipulotu, born in Tonga and resident there before winning a scholarship to St Kentigern College in Auckland at the age of 17, chased the All Black dream and made it to national second team level two years ago, playing for the Junior All Blacks in the Pacific Nations Cup. In doing so, however, he scuppered any chance of representing his homeland in New Zealand in 2011.

"I knew at the time that playing for the Junior All Blacks captured me as a New Zealand player," Tu'ipulotu says. "But after all those years I spent in New Zealand I wanted to reach the highest level that I could in New Zealand rugby. I didn't want to just throw it away and leave the All Blacks because I always dreamed of being an All Black. I tried my best and that came out to be the Junior All Blacks. Just one more step and I would have made it, but it didn't happen. Now you look on it and it would be nice to play in the World Cup for Tonga. But that's the way things are. I've just got to go with it."

Try as he might, the Newcastle centre can't quite hide the regret. Neither can he conceal the sparkle in his eyes as he speaks of his homeland, of the formative years he spent running free on his family's farm on Tonga's main island, Tongatapu. "It's a big part of my life," he says. "My mum and dad are still in Tonga and every chance I get I shoot home and get back to reality. Get out the machete and go into the bush."

And do exactly what with that machete? "Just the weeding and stuff," Tu'ipulotu says, laughing. "You're not chopping up pigs and chickens... I have done that. I did that as a kid. I think that gave a good start to my rugby career – all that agility from ducking around in the bush, chasing pigs and chickens."

My Other Life

You could call him the uncrowned king, and also the prince of pole vaulters. Back in 1999, Tane Tu'ipulotu caused a bit of a stir as the winner of the New Zealand under-19 pole vault title.

"I got interviewed on the national news," he says, reflecting on that sporting high point, "because I was the kid who didn't have a pole – I had to borrow one and ended up winning. I cleared 3.80m."

Which is not quite a record for a Newcastle player. Steve Bainbridge, the lock who won 18 England caps back in the club's days as plain Gosforth, was an all-round athlete who won a British students' title as a decathlete and cleared 4.30m in the pole vault in 1978. "That's pretty good," Tu'ipulotu says. "I tried to crack 4m but it was a bit hard."

In 1982, in the week of England's Five Nations Championship trip to Paris, Bainbridge was pictured in the Daily Express, leaping over an MG Midget, Duncan McKenzie-style. Not the kind of trick you are likely to find in the Sir Clive Woodward match preparation manual. Nor in the Martin Johnson version, for that matter.