Born: January 26, 1978 – Auckland
Test record: 13 Tests (2001, 2005-06) – 0 points
Tours: 2002 tour of Britain and France, 2005 Tri Nations

Burly, mobile back-row ball-player David Solomona represented New Zealand in 13 Tests in between playing for Samoa at the 2000 and 2008 World Cups.

The Richmond Bulldogs junior came through the Auckland Warriors’ junior system but was snapped up by Sydney Roosters, making his NRL debut in 1999 and coming off the bench in their 2000 grand final loss to Brisbane.

Solomona subsequently starred for Samoa at the 2000 World Cup, playing all four matches and scoring tries in the crucial pool win over Scotland and the quarter-final loss to Australia.

Linking with Parramatta the following season, the dynamic tyro was integral to the side’s runaway minor premiership success – though the season again ended in grand final agony as the Eels went down to Newcastle.

Solomona debuted for the Kiwis in 2001, coming off the bench in the one-off Test against Australia. He was a mainstay for New Zealand in 2002, again providing interchange impact in the spirited loss to the Kangaroos in Wellington, and the one-off win over Wales, two Tests against Great Britain and a victory over France on the Kiwis’ Northern Hemisphere tour.

After a disappointing 2003 campaign with Parramatta, Solomona linked with Super League club Wakefield Trinity.

He was recalled by the Kiwis for the 2005 Tri Nations and featured in all five matches of the triumph, coming off the bench in the win over Australia in Sydney and the 24-0 rout of the world champs in the Elland Road final. The 27-year-old also started in the second-row in the narrow loss to the Kangaroos in Auckland and both matches against Great Britain, and lined up at five-eighth in the non-tournament clash with France.

Solomona’s last appearance for New Zealand was in a 46-14 loss to Great Britain in mid-2006 in a team almost exclusively made up of Super League-based Kiwis.

He joined Bradford Bulls in 2007 – playing alongside fellow former Kiwis Shontayne Hape, Joe Vagana and Lesley Vainikolo and Tame Tupou – and provided valuable experience in Samoa’s 2008 World Cup squad.

Solomona rounded out his professional career with three seasons at Warrington (2010-12), winning a Challenge Cup final in his first season with the Wolves as well as farewelling the international arena with Test appearances for Samoa against New Zealand and Tonga in late-2010.