 Tuqiri's contract would ordinarily have meant that he would stay with the Waratahs and the Wallabies till the year 2012, but on 1 July 2009 the ARU announced an unexplained, immediate termination of the contract.Subsequently, it has been suggested that the reason for the termination of his contract was that he had entertained a 20-year-old student in his room, in breach of strict team rules.He made his debut for the Leicester Tigers off the bench against the Springboks on 6 November 2009 and the Tigers defeated the World cup holders.