Experienced Marist St. Pat's first five-eighth Fa'atonu Fili shapes as the key protagonist for this Saturday's Jubilee Cup final. Marist St. Pat's enter the 2008 final with a season record of 17 wins, a draw and a loss from 19 games played, with the skills and kicking of Fili a major reason behind their success.

Fili is by far and away the leading points scorer in Wellington Premier rugby this year, having scored 141 points in the Swindale Shield and 90 in the Jubilee Cup for 231 in all this season. In 18 games (he missed one against Upper Hutt four weeks ago) he is averaging just under 13 points per game.

As well as being a prolific points scorer, Fili is also MSP's playmaker and has scored five tries this year and created several more on his own, is an astute tactical kicker and also kicks dropped goals. Consequently, he is the joint leader with Poneke's Dane Coles in this year's Billy Wallace Trophy, as selected each week by the Dominion Post club rugby contributors. With Coles not involved in the final, another strong game will likely see Fili win that award.

First fives have played leading hands in recent Jubilee and Hardham Cup finals, with Fili's fellow Samoan international Earl Va'a winning titles with Petone in 2005 and Wainuiomata in 2007, David Holwell for Poneke in 2003 and Tamati Ellison for Norths in 2004. Va'a kicked the match winning penalty for Petone to beat Norths 21-20 in 2005 and guided Wainui to victory in the Hardham Cup last year, Holwell kicked 16 points for Poneke to beat MSP 26-22 in 2003 and Ellison's move to flyhalf from the midfield was a match winning one as Norths beat Poneke 20-18 in 2004.

Fili is also no stranger to Jubilee Cup finals, having played in each of MSP's 2001 and 2002 title winning sides. In 2001 MSP beat Poneke in the final and in 2002 they defeated Old Boys-University, their last Jubilee Cup win. He missed MSP's final last year against Hutt Old Boys Marist, instead in Australia playing for the Western Sydney Rams in the ARU competition. Playing every game on the wing, with Waratahs Kurtley Beale at first five and Lachlan Turner at fullback, he helped the Rams to finish as top qualifiers for the semi-finals, only to be knocked out by Melbourne in the semi-final.

Prior to his one season in Australia, Fili also played two seasons for Albi in France - again mostly on the wing - and two seasons for Yokogawa in Japan. He played two Tests for Samoa at fullback in 2002 against Ireland and Namibia and was a travelling member of the 2003 Samoan Rugby World Cup squad.

Fili is known as a Sevens exponent, having first made the Wellington Sevens team out of the MSP Colts in 2000, and has gone on to play numerous IRB Sevens tournaments for Samoa, including four Hong Kong Sevens and two Commonwealth Games in 2002 and 2006.

Fili attended secondary school at St. Pat's Town but his rugby career didn't blossom until he left school, progressing from the MSP Colts in his first year out of school to the Senior 1's and then to the Premiers at the tail-end of the 2001 season, just in time to win a Jubilee Cup. His brother Palati was a regular in Southland and Highlanders teams in the late 1990s, appearing in the 1999 Super 12 finals against Canterbury.