Lukhan Salakaia-Loto (formerly Lukhan Tui, born 19 September 1996), is an Australian rugby union player. He plays for the Northampton Saints in Premiership Rugby. He has played for the Queensland Reds in

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

, and his usual position is lock but he has also played in the backrow for the Wallabies particularly at

blindside flanker Flanker is a position in the sport of rugby union. Each team of 15 players includes two flankers, who play in the forwards, and are generally classified as either blindside or openside flankers, numbers 6 and 7 respectively. The name comes fr ...

Family and early life

Lukhan Herman Lealaiauloto Tui was born to parents Herman Lealaiauloto rmehnand Teresa Tuimaseve, his mother, at Otara, South Auckland in New Zealand before he moved with his mother to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia, at a young age. He changed his name to Lukhan Salakaia-Loto later as an adult in 2018 following the death of the stepfather who had raised him, hyphenating Salakaia as the surname of his late stepfather, mother and siblings with Loto from part of his birth father's last name. Lukhan's Samoan bloodline comes from the villages of Lelepa in Savaii and Faleula in Upolu. Lukhan attended John Edmondson High School in

Liverpool, Australia Liverpool is a suburb of Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately south-west of the Sydney CBD. Liverpool is the administrative seat of the local government area of the City of Liverpoo ...

. He initially played junior rugby league and was selected in age-group teams for Western Suburbs, and NSW Samoa.

Rugby career

He joined the Randwick club in 2014 to play rugby union for their colts side. In 2015, he played for Randwick's first grade Shute Shield team, and was named (as Lukhan Lealaiaulolo-Tui) for the Australia under-20 team that played in the World Junior Championship in Italy. Later in 2015, he signed a three-year deal with the Queensland Reds. Tui made his

debut for the Reds against the in Pretoria on 16 April 2016. He was selected in the squad for the National Rugby Championship in 2015, but did not play for that side due to injury. He made his NRC debut the following season for the team. In 2017, national coach

Michael Cheika Michael Cheika (born 4 March 1967) is an Australian rugby union and rugby league coach, and former rugby union player. He is currently head coach of Argentina in rugby union and Lebanon in rugby league. Cheika was the coach of the Australi ...

named Lukhan Tui on the bench for in the match against at Bloemfontein, and he made his international debut on 30 September 2017, replacing

Adam Coleman Adam Coleman (born 7 October 1991) is an Australian rugby union player living in England who plays lock for London Irish in the Gallagher Premiership. Career Coleman attended New Town High School in Hobart Tasmania. He represented Tasmania in ...

after the first hour in a 27-all tied test. On 1 March 2022, it was confirmed that Salakaia-Loto would move to England to join Northampton Saints in the Premiership Rugby ahead of the 2022-23 season. In January 2023, Salakaia-Loto was suspended for four weeks following his sending-off for dangerous play in a Champions Cup match against La Rochelle.

Super Rugby statistics

References

External links

Stats on itsrugby.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salakaia-Loto, Lukhan 1996 births Australian rugby union players Australian sportspeople of Samoan descent Australian people of New Zealand descent Australia international rugby union players Queensland Reds players Queensland Country (NRC team) players Rugby union locks Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights Rugby union players from Sydney Rugby union players from Auckland Living people Brisbane City (rugby union) players Northampton Saints players Australian expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in England Melbourne Rebels players 2019 Rugby World Cup players Randwick DRUFC players