Denny Solomona (born 27 September 1993) is a

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

er who played

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

as a winger for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at international level. He previously played rugby union for

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

and played

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

as a winger for the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...

Under-20s,

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

and the

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England, that compete in the Super League, the top-level professional rugby league club competition in the Northern Hemisphere. The club have competed i ...

. He played for

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

at international rugby league.

Youth

Solomona was born and brought up in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, and was educated first at Ōtāhuhu College then at St Peter's College where he was a member of the school's Rugby Union First XV and won the Boris Shroj Cup in 2010 as the top try scorer.

Rugby League

In 2012, Solomona became a member of the

Rugby League franchise being recruited out of Melbourne's youth system. He only played 13 games during the 2012 National Youth Competition season, with a fractured

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity is ...

in Round 13. Nevertheless, the 19-year-old scored eight tries from those 13 games. Solomona joined the Melbourne Storm's senior squad in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

. Solomona signed for

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

side

in January 2014 after being released from his contract with

. Following the club's relegation, it was announced that he would join

at the end of the season. In 2016, Solomona scored a record-breaking 37th try in a single

season in Castleford's Super 8s win over Catalans. The try broke a 12-year record held by former dual-international,

Lesley Vainikolo Lesley Paea 'I'muli Vainikolo (born 4 May 1979) is a former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer. A dual code international, he has played for the New Zealand Kiwis in rugby league and England in rugby union. He began his caree ...

. Solomona finished the season with a total of 40 tries along with another 2 in the

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

competition. On 8 October 2016 Solomona made his International début for

in their historical

test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

against Fiji in Apia.

Rugby Union

On 13 December 2016, it was confirmed that Solomona had retired from rugby league, with two years still remaining on his contract with

, to switch to

, and join

in the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

. The move was subject to a legal dispute which was concluded out of court as Sale paid Castleford some £200,000 in compensation. On 29 March 2017, having enjoyed a prolific start to his career with Sale (10 tries in 11 appearances), Solomona declared himself available for international selection with

. He was subsequently called up to the senior England squad by Eddie Jones for their 2017 summer tour of Argentina and came on as a sub in the opening test and scored the winning try on his debut.l

International tries

Influences

Solomona feels that meeting senior players can be important for the motivation and development of school age players.

References

External links

*
Sale Sharks Profile2015 Castleford Tigers Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solomona, Denny 1993 births Living people Castleford Tigers players Dual-code rugby internationals England international rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in England London Broncos players London Skolars players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players People educated at St Peter's College, Auckland Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league wingers Rugby union players from Auckland Rugby union wings Sale Sharks players Samoa national rugby league team players Samoan rugby league players English rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players North Harbour rugby union players