>> Solomona good for Lions says Cueto
Gary Fitzgerald gets the lowdown on Sale’s new super hero from their record try-scorer
DENNY Solomona would be a more than useful weapon in the Lions armoury if Warren Gatland was to make him his left-field pick to go to New Zealand.
That’s according to former England star Mark Cueto who believes Kiwi-born Solomona has an outside chance of a call up in Gatland’s squad for the series against the world champions. If he misses out on that tour, to be named on April 19, Cueto insists the 23-year-old Sale Sharks wing is nailed on for England’s trip to Argentina in June.
Last year he turned down the opportunity to represent England at Rugby League while playing for Castleford, with the Aucklandborn finisher claiming: “My heart’s not here, it’s not for England.”
Having now qualified to play for England at Rugby Union through the three-year residency rule he insists he wants to play for his adopted country, thus opening the door for Lions selection.
Cueto, below, said: “It is unlikely, but if it was going to happen under any head coach, that man would be Warren Gatland. That’s because he’s done it before.
“He picked Christian Wade four years ago. He was taken by Gatland with his Lions to Australia having only just played his first England Test in Argentina. He was in a similar position to Denny really. He had only just come on the Premiership scene but was in electric form scoring tries and then got the call up.
“It’s something that’s not done as often now in the professional game as it did in the amateur days when they used to pick an uncapped player to go on a Lions tour. So from that point of view it isn’t out the question.
“Obviously if he doesn’t go to New Zealand, I can certainly see Denny being picked by England to go to Argentina because his form speaks for itself. He’s on the wing to score tries and he’s scored a try in every game that he’s played in.
“He only joined Sale just before Christmas so it’s incredible how quickly he has hit the ground running. But it’s not just his tries, other aspects of his game are very good as well. Defensively he makes very good decisions and his position play is very good because he doesn’t get caught out.
“He also works hard and doesn’t just wait on his wing for the ball to come. So all round you would have to say he is the inform wing in the country.” Solomona has become the talk of the Premiership having scored 11 tries in 11 games for Sharks since his controversial cross-code move from Cas who are still in a legal battle with Sharks over a £500,000 compensation claim. He moved straight to the AJ Bell Stadium after ripping up the last two years of his deal in the Super League. And Solomona has been accused of opting to play for England because of the rich rewards Eddie Jones’ men now enjoy as the highest paid national team in world Rugby Union. But Cueto can understand the wing’s decision to pledge allegiance to England and said: “I guess a player would never say he has made a decision like this for the money. But it’s bound to be a factor and at the end of the day we’ve all got to earn a living in life.
“Playing rugby for England in the current climate is rewarded pretty well – they are one of the most financially rewarded teams in the world for sure.
“But it happens across a lot of sports and the All Blacks have done it for years and years. They’ve plucked players out of Tonga and Samoa and picked the best as well, but nothing is really said. But when it comes to us it’s major news.
“It’s not something that has started recently because I played with a number of foreign guys who qualified through the residency rule. That’s the rule and Denny now qualifies because it is just three years and not yet five.
However, Cueto is happy to see the qualification time extended to five years.
He added: “I think we should protect the fact that it should be the best of one country’s players against another. It has to be a level playing field for all countries and not just one or another.
“There was a lot said when Manu Tuilagi got his call up by England. But Manu had moved to England to live when he was seven or eight and made the country his home. He deserved to get his chance with England.”
“It’s not just his tries - he makes good decisions defensively and his positional play is very good”
THAT Denny Solomona has had a phenomenal start to his Rugby Union career, with 11 tries in 11 matches for Sale Sharks, is not in doubt. There is also no arguing with the tremendous balance, athleticism, agility, and sheer try-scoring instinct that indicate that Solomona, 23, could be a Test calibre wing for England and even, as a very long shot, for the 2017 Lions.
However, despite his obvious ability, neither England nor the Lions should touch Solomona with a barge pole. This has nothing to do with his qualities as a player, or as an individual. It is quite simply because he is a New Zealandborn Samoan who has already played one Test of international Rugby League for Samoa.
Six months ago when he was playing for Castleford Tigers before making a controversial cross-code transfer to Sale, he also declared that his heart was in playing for New Zealand or Samoa, and not England. This is understandable given that he was born and raised in Auckland by Samoan parents, before he moved at 17, with his family, to Australia to accept a pro Rugby League contract with Melbourne Storm.
This week we learned that Solomona has had a change of heart. Having served a three-year UK residency, and become engaged to marry an English girl, he has now decided he wants to put down roots in England.
To complicate matters there is also the lure of an England Rugby Union financial package which Solomona could not dream of matching if he stayed with his original allegiance to Samoa. England internationals currently enjoy a £30,000 per game match fee. This means that if Solomona was to play in the nine Tests on average per season he could earn up to £270,000 a year at international level.
That is on top of a club salary at Sale of about £250,000 a year, compared to a salary in the region of £50,000 at Castleford.
Let’s make no mistake, the main driver behind Solomona’s switch of allegiance to Rugby Union, and to England, is money – and no one should blame him for that. In a tough pro sport like rugby no one knows when serious injury will intervene to bring a career to a premature end, so wanting to maximise your earnings as a young player is a no-brainer.
The unfortunate reality is that RugbyUnion’s best interests do not coincide with Solomona’s most lucrative career path.
World Rugby’s ludicrous three year residency rule is to blame for turning international rugby into a mercenary free-for-all with overseas players wrapping themselves in flags of convenience in return for greater financial security.
The decision by Nathan Hughes to choose England over Fiji after he qualified on three year residency last summer was a case in point. I argued at the time in this column that the Wasps No.8 – who now has seven England caps – should not have had the option, because the residency ruling in international rugby ought to be at least seven years.
I argued also that the best strategy World Rugby could introduce to encourage talented players like Solomona and Hughes from Tier 2 nations, like those in the South Pacific, to play for their home countries is to use their coffers to boost the match/squad fees available to them.
If it was £60,000 a season for overseas players returning to the Pacific Islands, rather than the current £60 a day, it might encourage more players from nations such as Samoa, Fiji and Tonga to play for the land of their birth, or parentage.
That is the boost the Tier 2 countries need so desperately to maintain their playing strength, and thereby stop international rugby’s competitive base from shrinking. Combine that with the increase in fixtures between Tier 1 and Tier 2 nations, which World Rugby has scheduled, and you might have progress.
However, if all that happens is teams like New Zealand, England and Australia tour the Pacific Islands with players plundered from them – like Solomona and Hughes – and then beat them by a cricket score, World Rugby can expect the shrinkage to accelerate.
Instead of dithering, World Rugby should bring in their proposed increase to a five-year residency ruling immediately – and then seek to raise it to seven years as soon as possible. That would take the decision out of the hands of young players like Solomona, while at the same time providing them with greater financial incentives to play for the country which is truly closest to their heart.
As for the RFU, their ambivalence towards taking pre-emptive action to endorse the five-year residency ruling they support reeks of self-interest – and a willingness to be economical with their own ethics.
When questioned about the RFU’s position on Solomona’s eligibility, their chief executive, Ian Ritchie, argued that because the three-year ruling was still in place England were entitled to select him.
“Yes, we’ve been consistent in lobbying to change the rules (to five years), and once they are changed we will abide by the rules,” Ritchie said.
The bit that was left unsaid, but was implicit, was that until then England will fill their boots with overseas talent, rather than take a similar moral stance to French Federation boss Bernard Laporte, who has already applied the five-year rule.
The jarring inconsistency is that as England raid the South Pacific for players like Solomona, English-born stars such as Nick Abendanon, David Strettle and Steffon Armitage have been banned by the RFU from playing for their own country because they are resident in France.
When it comes to double standards in Rugby Union, sadly, this is groundbreaking stuff.
“Until the five-year rule is in place, England will keep filling their boots with overseas talent ”