Kiwi prop soaks up dream try on debut
Talk about dream debuts.
Kiwi prop Poasa Faamausili hopes to kick on for the Roosters after scoring with his second touch of the ball in his first NRL appearance.
He was one of three Roosters players to score on debut – setting a NRL record.
The 22-year-old Faamausili came off the interchange bench against the Gold Coast Titans on Sunday and ran a splendid line to score by the posts in the 57th minute after hurtling onto a deft pass from Kurt Baptiste.
Faamausili described his first taste of first grade football as ‘‘unreal’’.
‘‘I was just hoping to get some strong carries, but I got a try because of Kurty’s good ball,’’ he told the Roosters’ website.
‘‘I was just grateful for it.’’ A week earlier, Faamausili had been playing for the Wyong Roos, the Roosters’ feeder team in the New South Wales Cup.
The former Junior Kiwis forward said he was ‘‘grateful for the coaches backing me’’ in his stepup to the top grade.
‘‘Everyone was really welcoming, [they were] making it really simple and making it basic and easier out there.
‘‘I’m hoping to get some more games in first grade and go on from there.’’
Faamausili played 18 minutes and made five runs totalling 43m and a line break.
He made five tackles and missed two.
Auckland-born Faamausili was a Glenora Bears junior before being recruited by the Roosters.
He played in the age-group grades for the Sydney club. He was part of their SG Ball 18 years grade title winning team which played in the Rugby League Commonwealth Championships as Australia’s representative.
Faamausili was a Junior Kiwi in 2016 and is a former New South Wales under-20s representative.
He made his NSW Cup debut for Wyong last year and has so far played 36 matches and scored six tries for the Central Coast side.
Sean O’Sullivan, 19, and Paul Momirovski, who turns 22 tomorrow, were the other Roosters rookies to score.
They are the first trio – without previous first grade experience – to score on their NRL debuts.
Long-time rugby league writer Neil Cadigan, writing on roosters.com.au, said three Brisbane Broncos – Wally Lewis, Brett Le Man and Joe Kilroy – scored in the Brisbane Broncos’ opening first grade game in 1988 but all had had premier grade experience in the Queensland competition.
O’Sullivan said he was over the moon at his try-scoring feat.
‘‘It’s something [three debutants scoring tries] we’ll laugh about in the next couple of years. It was awesome to debut with guys you’ve played the whole year with up at Wyong,’’ he told roosters.com.au.