The Brumbies have signed hard-hitting former Australia Schoolboys and U20s representative Lolo Fakaosilea on a one-year deal. We first saw Fakaosilea here on Rugbydump late last year when he made a massive tackle against Samoa at the U20 World Championship.
The 21-year old represented the Queensland Reds four times after making his Super Rugby debut against the Hurricanes in 2015. Fakaosilea did not play Super Rugby in 2016 after suffering a hamstring injury in a trial match against the Brumbies in February.
Standing at 190cm and weighing 111kg, Fakaosilea comes from good rugby stock, with his father, Seiana, having played for the Auckland Blues, and his uncle being the late great, Jonah Lomu.
Born in Auckland, Fakaosilea moved to Brisbane with his family as a young boy. He started playing rugby at the age of five, playing for the Sunnybank Rugby junior club until he was twelve. He then moved to Emerald where he attended Marist College from 2009 to 2011.
While playing rugby for Marist College he was selected in the Central Queensland Bushrangers team to play in the Queensland Junior State Championships.
From there he received a scholarship to attend St Patrick’s College in Brisbane. Fakaosilea was selected for the Australian Schoolboys in 2012 and 2013.
The hard-hitting No.8/blindside flanker played premier grade rugby for the Sunnybank club (QLD).He was selected for the Australian Men’s Youth Sevens team to play at the Youth Olympic Festival held at Sydney in 2013.
In 2014, he played for the Reds A team in the Pacific Rugby Cup, and was selected for the Australia U20 team to play at the 2014 IRB Junior World Championship held in New Zealand. Later that year Fakaosilea was named in the Queensland Country squad for the National Rugby Championship. He also claimed the Queensland Reds Colts Player of the Year in 2014.
Brumbies Head Coach Stephen Larkham said he is looking forward to having the versatile backrower at the club.
“Lolo is one of those players we’ve had our eyes on for a while. It’s no secret that he’s a hard-hitter, but it’s his other skills that will make him a strong addition to our squad,” Larkham said.
“He’s had a taste of Super Rugby and we are very pleased he will be joining us for the 2017 Season.”
Fakaosilea is also a keen boxer, and spent a lot of time training while recovering from a hamstring injury. He has actually challenged some NRL big names to fights.
“I offered Sam Thaiday a fight but he said no. I’ve got the same coach as Sonny Bill [Williams], so he won’t let me fight Sonny Bill. I want to get Paul Gallen, that’s a goal for me. But rugby comes first for me and that’s No. 1 coming down here to Canberra.”
Here is a look at that big tackle he made last year. We look forward to seeing him in Super Rugby.
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