The Christian and rugby worlds have paid tribute to Va’aiga (‘Inga the winger’) Tuigamala, who died recently aged 52.
He represented the New Zealand All Blacks in 19 Test Matches, including at the 1991 Rugby World Cup. He then switched codes to Rugby League, where he played in the great Wigan Warriors side of the mid-1990s, which beat the Brisbane Broncos in the 1994 World Club Challenge.
Tuigamala was also renowned for his faith – in its tribute the BBC called him a ‘devout Christian’. In 2012 he wrote that, before he became a Christian, ‘I lived for sport and my social life. Then some of my friends joined a youth fellowship, set up to encourage youngsters to consider the claims of Jesus Christ. Many of these lads had a joy and peace which was very real to them. I also had an economics teacher who was a Christian. She explained to me that I needed to give my life to Christ and be forgiven. She said I needed to be born again.
