{"id":71217,"date":"2025-08-16T12:44:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T12:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/71217\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T12:44:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T12:44:07","slug":"leicester-tigers-sign-giant-143kg-late-to-rugby-usa-international","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/71217\/","title":{"rendered":"Leicester Tigers sign giant 143kg &#8216;late to rugby&#8217; USA international"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Leicester Tigers have signed hulking <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/usa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">USA<\/a> international tighthead prop <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/tonga-kofe\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tonga Kofe<\/a> ahead of the 2025\/26 season.<\/p>\n<p>The 29-year-old makes the move from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/major-league-rugby\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Major League Rugby<\/a> side Utah Warriors. The Herriman based side finished top of the Western Conference in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Kofe will certainly add size to the Tigers pack. The 6\u20192, 143kg tighthead has won three caps for the USA Eagles since switching to rugby union after a background in American football and wrestling. <\/p>\n<p>He featured 16 times for Utah in the 2025 season, scoring two tries and making 128 tackles across 792 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>The giant front-rower turned out against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/england\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">England<\/a> during the summer. He\u2019s the heaviest prop at Welford Road since the departure of 149kg Nephi Leatigaga. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cJoining <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/leicester\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Leicester<\/a> Tigers is more than just a new chapter, it\u2019s the result of years of hard work, setbacks, and sacrifices,\u201d said Kofe. \u201cThis club represents tradition, pride, and a relentless standard, and I\u2019m ready to give everything I\u2019ve got to be part of that. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI haven\u2019t taken the easy road to get here, and I carry that hunger with me every time I step onto the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added: \u201cThe Tigers have the best fans in the league \u2014 passionate, loyal, and loud \u2014 and I can\u2019t wait to play in front of them and earn their respect by leaving it all out there, week in and week out. Let\u2019s work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leicester head coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/geoff-parling\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Geoff Parling<\/a> said: \u201cTonga is a prop who is late to rugby but who we think has huge potential. He\u2019s physically very strong, but from speaking to his coaches in America, it\u2019s his willingness to learn that stands out. We are really looking forward to welcoming Tonga, his wife, and their daughter, Lisa Rose, to Mattioli Woods Welford Road.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leicester Tigers have signed hulking USA international tighthead prop Tonga Kofe ahead of the 2025\/26 season. The 29-year-old&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-71217","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}