Nelson Asofa-Solomona celebrates his try during a try with Samoa in 2023. Photo: Brett Phibbs \/ www.photosport.nz<\/p>\n
Asofa-Solomona remains a massive weapon, though the rule changes in recent years haven\u2019t helped his game. The zealous drive to speed up the sport has made it harder for the biggest men, while the crackdown on high tackles and illegal contact has affected the 2.0m, 130kg enforcer. Injuries and suspension limited him to 12 matches this season and he has missed the past two grand finals due to judiciary processes<\/a>.<\/p>\n But it felt like Kiwis coach Stacey Jones was always going to pick him, given his previous deeds and the fear factor he brings. Asofa-Solomona, who has played 15 tests since his 2017 debut, sometimes seems more suited to test football, which is often less frenetic and structured than the NRL, but he was still thrilled to get the call.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just super grateful,\u201d said Asofa-Solomona. \u201cAfter the turbulent year I had – in and out – for these guys to show me a bit of grace and the loyalty that they\u2019ve shown me, I just want to repay that back to them.\u201d<\/p>\n He is also an intensely proud Kiwi, who, despite his Samoan heritage, has never considered anything other than the Black and White V.<\/p>\n \u201cUs Samoan-Kiwi boys have copped a lot of stuff from the fans,\u201d he told the Herald during the 2023 Pacific Championships. \u201cI\u2019m a proud Samoan but I am born in New Zealand. This country gave my family a better life and I have a lot of history in the Kiwis jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n He enjoys the atmosphere in camp \u2013 with so many familiar faces <\/a>\u2013 and says there is \u201cunfinished business\u201d for a lot of them, alluding to next year\u2019s World Cup in Australia.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have had a big journey with a lot of us.\u201d<\/p>\n But the upcoming tests will be tremendous battles, starting with Samoa on Sunday (6pm, Go Media Stadium), given the recent rise of the Pacific nations.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, over the years, they have just got stronger and stronger, and, yeah, it\u2019s not going to be easy this year, but I have true belief in this team,\u201d said Asofa-Solomona. \u201cWe have got the talent, size and speed.\u201d<\/p>\n The Kiwis braved wet and windy conditions in Auckland to train on Tuesday morning at Western Springs, with two more scheduled practice sessions ahead of Sunday\u2019s test. Though there are plenty of injury niggles off the back of the NRL season, coach Stacey Jones indicated that everyone would be fit and available for Sunday.<\/p>\n Michael Burgess<\/a> has been a Sports Journalist for the New Zealand Herald since 2005, covering the Olympics, Fifa World Cups, and America\u2019s Cup campaigns. He is a co-host of the Big League podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things I need to evaluate, I need to write down on paper, to make…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[74,60618,3013,35702,71,3273,22772,9641,807,60620,123,2683,91,111,139,69,90,5493,60617,8244,6327,213,673,32261,61,60619,6923],"class_list":["post-78100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-after","tag-asofasolomona","tag-but","tag-exit","tag-from","tag-future","tag-holds","tag-idea","tag-kiwis","tag-maintains","tag-melbourne","tag-move","tag-nelson","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-open","tag-prop","tag-recent","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-storm","tag-switch","tag-to","tag-undecided","tag-what"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}