{"id":447396,"date":"2026-02-26T22:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T22:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/447396\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T22:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T22:12:10","slug":"ex-st-helens-pair-unite-down-under-to-play-together-once-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/447396\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-St Helens pair unite down under to play together once more"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"St\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Former St Helens duo Kevin Naiqama and Sione Mata\u2019utia will be action together for the same team this spring.<\/p>\n

The pair have agreed to play for NSWRL Country Championships side Newcastle Rebels this year as the regional representative team targets its fourth straight title.<\/p>\n

Naiqama and Mata\u2019utia spent just one season together in Super League with the Saints back in 2021, with Kristian Woolf\u2019s side winning the Grand Final that year. However, both men have now called time on their full-time careers and they can be seen playing in the amateur ranks down under.<\/p>\n

Naiqama, a former Fiji international of 24 caps, has been playing for Western Suburbs Rosellas in the Newcastle Rugby League. Mata\u2019utia, who has caps for Australia and Samoa under his belt, alongside 209 senior club outings, has been with Lakes United Seagulls in the same competition.<\/p>\n

However, the pair have both been picked up by the Rebels to play in the competition, which features some of the best amateur talent from around New South Wales.<\/p>\n

\u201cMata\u2019utia has played for Australia \u2013 there\u2019s not much more you can do than that,\u201d head coach Garth Brennan said<\/a> of the pair\u2019s inclusion.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have the youngest Kangaroo in our Rebels side is a bit of a coup for us here in Newcastle.<\/p>\n

\u201cKevin Naiqama has also played a lot of NRL, English Super League, and won grand finals. They\u2019ve both won grand finals at St Helens, so it is a good experience to bring them in with our younger guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where Hull KR rank among Super League\u2019s greats, referee controversy and Las Vegas predictions \u2013 Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former St Helens duo Kevin Naiqama and Sione Mata\u2019utia will be action together for the same team this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-447396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}