Ma’afu Fia will be on familiar territory when he wins his first cap this weekend, having been selected today to start for Tonga at Principality Stadium against Wales on Saturday.
His international debut comes just five days before he celebrates his 29th birthday.
The tighthead has played at the home of Welsh rugby on two previous occasions, suffering one win and one loss. The first occasion was the ill-fated Challenge Cup quarter-final against Stade Francais in April 2017, while a year later he was part of a side that defeated Cardiff Blues 26-23 at Judgement Day 2018.
Fia has been with the Ospreys since October 2015 and, to date, he has played 62 times for the Region, scoring four tries.
A 2009 Junior World Cup winner with New Zealand, Fia is Tongan born, his family having moved to New Zealand in 2001. He represented Tonga for the first time last weekend in an uncapped game against the French Barbarians, in Bordeaux, finishing on the winning side, 49-38.
