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'I'm really excited': Rebels sign Wallabies lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto

(Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images)

The Melbourne Rebels have officially confirmed Wallabies lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto has signed with the Super Rugby Pacific club until the end of 2025.

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Salakaia-Loto has been playing with Northampton in the UK but makes himself available for Test selection ahead of the World Cup by linking with the Rebels.

He will join with another Queensland player, Wallabies prop Taniel Tupou, who will shift from the Reds to Melbourne next season, while former Reds hooker Alex Mafi made the move this year.

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The arrival of Salakaia-Loto, who has played 30 Tests, will help offset the loss of Matt Philip and Trevor Hosea, who are heading overseas.

The 26-year-old was part of the the Wallabies’ 2019 World Cup campaign, playing all five matches, including the quarter-final but coach Eddie Jones hasn’t revealed if he’s in his plans for this year’s tournament in France.

“Having the opportunity to add what’s been brewing down in Melbourne was really exciting,” Salakaia-Loto said in a statement on Thursday.

“I’m looking forward to reuniting with Maf (Alex Mafi) and Nela (Taniela Tupou), who are basically my brothers.

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“The opportunity to reconnect and play together for the same team once again is something I’m really excited for.”

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Let's not sugarcoat it': Former All Black's urgent call to protect eligibility rules

Yep, no one knows what will happen. Thing is I think (this is me arguing a point here not a random debate with this one) they're better off trialing it now in a controlled environment than waiting to open it up in a knee jerk style reaction to a crumbling organtization and team. They can always stop it again.


The principle idea is that why would players leave just because the door is ajar?


BBBR decides to go but is not good enough to retain the jersey after doing it. NZ no longer need to do what I suggest by paying him to get back upto speed. That is solely a concept of a body that needs to do what I call pick and stick wth players. NZR can't hold onto everyone so they have to choose their BBBRs and if that player comes back from a sabbatical under par it's a priority to get him upto speed as fast as possible because half of his competition has been let go overseas because they can't hold onto them all. Changing eligibility removes that dilemma, if a BBBR isn't playing well you can be assured that someone else is (well the idea is that you can be more assured than if you only selected from domestic players).


So if someone decides they want to go overseas, they better do it with an org than is going to help improve them, otherwise theyre still basically as ineligible as if they would have been scorning a NZ Super side that would have given them the best chance to be an All Black.

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