Solomona heads for Chiefs country

 
Liu Taituave and Solomona (in front) and Jeff To'omaga Allen, Bernie Upton and Lua Lokotui (at the rear) were the core of a powerful MSP pack in 2012.

Premier prop Solomona Sakalia is looking forward to heading for Hamilton at the end of November to join Super Rugby champions the Chiefs. Pre-season training starts on 12 December but Solomona will be there a couple of weeks early. 'It will be a new experience and I can't wait.'

Chiefs forwards coach Tom Coventry kept in touch with him during the 2012 season and confirmed he was in the squad just days before the draft closed. Head coach Dave Rennie said of his new signing, 'He’s big and mobile; looking forward to getting him into the mix.'

In 2010, Solomona went straight into MSP's premiers from the Wellington College 1st XV. He didn't have long to wait to make his debut -  five minutes into the opening game against playing-through champions Norths, starting prop Arden David tore a shoulder muscle that put him out for the season, and Solomona ran on to the field.

'I wasn't expecting to get much game time and I was pretty nervous,' he says. Solomona, then 18, went on to play 17 premier games that season and won the team's MVP award.

In 2011, he was selected for the New Zealand under-20s and won a Junior World Cup in Italy. A lengthy layoff with a back injury followed, but he bounced back in 2012 to become part of the Jubilee Cup-winning MSP premiers and win selection for the Wellington Lions.

Since his signing with the Chiefs, Solomona has been inundated with texts and well wishes. His father is among those who are 'pretty stoked' and will be in Hamilton to watch his first game. Plenty of his old teammates and club supporters will be following his progress on TV and Marist St Pats wishes him all the best in his rugby career.

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