{"id":340859,"date":"2025-12-11T03:52:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T03:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/340859\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T03:52:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T03:52:08","slug":"major-league-rugby-club-sign-tongan-international-harison-mataele","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/340859\/","title":{"rendered":"Major League Rugby club sign Tongan international Harison Mataele"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Seattle Seawolves<\/a> have made a significant signing announcement ahead of the upcoming Major League Rugby<\/a> season, with Tongan international Harison Mataele adding invaluable experience to the club\u2019s roster for 2026.<\/p>\n

Mataele is the latest addition to the Seawolves squad for the new campaign, following the recent news that club centurion JP Smith<\/a> had put pen to paper on a fresh deal. Seattle made the playoffs last season and are preparing to help MLR launch its new era with six teams.<\/p>\n

Seattle have described the 31-year-old as \u201ca powerful international lock\u201d who recently started for Tonga<\/a> against Scotland<\/a> during the Quilter Nations Series. Mataele featured in Tonga\u2019s First XV during the 2025 Pacific Nations Cup<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n

In the PNC, Mataele played 66 minutes in the semi-final defeat to Eddie Jones\u2019 Japan, and backed that up with a 68-minute shift in the third-place playoff against Canada. Mataele has earned a global rugby reputation as a physical lock who can dominate in the air.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re incredibly excited to welcome Harison Mataele to the Seawolves family,\u201d coach Allen Clarke said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a quality lock with the confidence and composure that come from performing on the international stage. Harison\u2019s experience, professionalism, and presence will be invaluable to our environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re proud to have him join us and look forward to the impact he\u2019ll make on and off the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mataele represented Manly Marlins and Eastern Suburbs RFC before most recently enjoying a stint with Stade Montois Rugby Pro in France. With Tonga, Mataele has long proven himself as a Test-standard performer in the international arena.<\/p>\n

After debuting for Tonga in 2022, Mataele has played in multiple PNC tournaments. The second-rower debuted against the All Blacks<\/a>, playing 10 minutes off the pine against a team that included Patrick Tuipulotu<\/a> and Beauden Barrett<\/a> on the bench.<\/p>\n

Since the beginning of November 2024, Mataele played Test matches against Romania, the USA<\/a> and Georgia. Following a Pro D2<\/a> season \u2013 making eight appearances for Stade Montois \u2013 Mataele wore Tongan red in those four PNC fixtures and the Scotland Test.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited for a season with the Seattle Seawolves,\u201d Mataele said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look forward to getting stuck in with the boys and giving it my all.\u201d<\/p>\n

MLR continues to build towards the 2026 campaign, with all teams confirming new signings in recent weeks. Three-time defending champions the New England<\/a> Free Jacks have unveiled a quartet of New Zealand<\/a> products who have signed on.<\/p>\n

Northland<\/a> winger Nathan Salmon<\/a>, Otago<\/a> product Reuben Palmer, Tasman enforcer Tayne Hemopo<\/a>, and Wellington-raised Harrison Boyle<\/a> have all signed on for 2026. Boyle was born in Boston but captained one of the most prestigious High School First XV\u2019s in the country to a title.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited for the opportunity to see a new part of the world, experience new cultures, and play some hissing rugby with the Free Jacks in 2026,\u201d Salmon said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m extremely grateful to the club for giving me an opportunity to live out my childhood dream and represent a proud history and community in New England,\u201d Palmer reflected.<\/p>\n

Hemopo added: \u201cFirst I would like to thank the man above for this opportunity to represent the Free Jacks in the 2026 season. I am very grateful, and I will wear the jersey with pride and honour.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Seattle Seawolves have made a significant signing announcement ahead of the upcoming Major League Rugby season, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-340859","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}