Iosia Soliola

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. Specific concerns may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions.(December 2007)

Iosia Soliola

Personal information
Full name	Iosia Soliola
Date of birth	August 4, 1986 (1986-08-04) (age 21)
Place of birth	Auckland, New Zealand
Height	190 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	100 kg (15 st 10 lb)
Nickname(s)	CC, Sia, Man Beast
Youth clubs
Years	Club
	Ponsonby
Senior clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (points)
2005 -	Sydney Roosters	63 (72)
Representative teams
2006 -	New Zealand	7 (20)
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only.

Iosia Soliola is a New Zealand international (of Samoan heritage) rugby league player who plays for the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League competition.

[edit] Early life

[edit] Discovery

Iosia Soliola was discovered by Ricky Stuart, Roosters chief scout Arthur Beetson and Roosters football manager Steve Gigg when on a tour of New South Wales with the Ponsonby Under-18 side in 2003.

The trio had been tipped off about this hulking centre and the fact Soliola didn't return to New Zealand with Ponsonby suggests they liked what they saw. He was quickly signed, enrolled at Marcellin College Randwick in Sydney's eastern suburbs and billeted at a team house in Bondi.

After making his debut in Jersey Flegg and proving too good for that comp, Soliola moved onto Premier League in which he won a premiership with the Roosters in 2004.

In 2005, Soliola made his first grade debut for the Roosters against South Sydney and went on to play 19 games for the club that season, crossing the line 6 times and making more tackles than any other centre in the game that year with 19.7 per game.^{[citation needed]}

He was chosen to make his international debut at the age of 19 for New Zealand in the Tri-nations series of 2005, however was forced to pull out due to injury.

Soliola then went on to represent New Zealand in the 2006 Tri-nations tournament. In 5 games, Soliola scored 4 try's including a double against the Australians at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne. He was close to being named in the World 13 team but was just pipped by both Mark Gasnier and Justin Hodges.

[edit] 2007

Soliola was dropped to premier league in the middle of the 2007 season before returning back to first grade in round 14 and hit career best form before he badly injured his knee in round 22 against the West Tigers missing the rest of the 2007 season and also missing out on New Zealand selection for the tour of Great Britain and France

[edit] 2008

Soliola returned from his lengthy spell on the sidelines in the off season to come off the bench in the Roosters opening centenary clash against South Sydney in round 1. Coach Brad Fittler debuted Soliola in the backrow as he played 25 minutes in his new role. He also represented the kiwi's in the 100 year centenary test match where he scored one of the best tries of his short career.

[edit] Career playing statistics

[edit] Point scoring summary

[edit] Matches played

[edit] External links

• Iosia Soliola Official Player Profile