1
Hosea Saumaki 'Tongan Godzilla' joins Sunwolves squad
By Ben Smith
We labeled the relatively unknown Hosea Saumaki, as 'Japan's next superstar nobody knows about' in November last year and predicted that would change in the near future.
That prediction is starting to come into fruition - Saumaki will have the chance to make a name for himself in Super Rugby after being added to the Sunwolves 2018 squad today, in addition to centre Will Tupou and scrumhalf Yutaka Nagare.
With the Sunwolves now competing in the Australian conference, Saumaki's chances of having a boom rookie season are increased. We have no doubt that Saumaki's attacking power will surprise a few wingers, despite some concerns about his defensive abilities.
Watch: Japan's next superstar nobody knows about
Nicknamed ‘The Tongan Godzilla’, Saumaki has been coming through their system for a number of years and has been destroying his opposition in the Japanese Top League.
The gigantic winger is in the similar mould to other iconic left wingers like Lomu, Nadolo, and Savea.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Famous club back in National Leagues after winning promotion
3
Vermeulen to join Premiership rivals despite interest around the world
4
Antoine Dupont undergoes surgery on injured knee ahead of long absence
5
Latest Comments
Some very interesting points in your post.
Go to commentsExactly, Moana is entirely a NZ side and it the second Auckland franchise. Its the only side in the world that's been setup for the alleged purpose of developing players for two other ‘countries’ from playing talent from another country.
In reality it's best players are always going to be picked for the Allblacks as they're eligible kiwis. That's never going to change so the best thing to do is stop the pretence and make the team just another NZ super franchise that isn't ethnically based to allow talent equal access to professional contracts regardless of their ethnicity.
Commentaries claiming players from this team need to be ignored by the Allblacks selectors are of course advocating for the ridiculous situation that NZ becomes the only rugby country that overlooks players born and living in that country with that countries citizenship.
Go to comments