Church key for Chris

CHRIS Feauai-Sautia is rebuilding his Queensland Reds career with the same devotion he has for rebuilding the church where he doubles as a Sunday school teacher.

The powerfully-framed centre is once again a potential matchwinner for the tricky run-in with the hot-and-cold Jaguares in Buenos Aires on Sunday morning (Qld time).

It’s far removed from this time last year when the twoTest star was sidelined and overweight after knee surgery.

The stark reality that he was on the brink of being cut six months ago, at just 23, gave the quietly-spoken figure a major jolt to refocus.

If he wasn’t in Argentina on Sunday morning, Feauai-Sautia would be singing hymns at the Browns Plains’ EFKS Congregational Southside Church.

He donates from his Reds wage with hopes that a new church of bricks-and-mortar will begin to take shape later this year.

“Chris is at church every weekend, except when rugby takes him away, and he help the kids as Sunday school teacher,” said uncle Petaia Tuifao, the church pastor.