Solomone Funaki rugby player
Solomone Funaki rugby player

Solomone Funaki

25th Apr 1994 1.87m/115kg Openside Flanker

Solomone Funaki attended Liahona High School in Tonga, before moving to Auckland in New Zealand, where he played club rugby for Grammar TEC. That same year, he was named in the Auckland Colts squad.

Funaki played for, and captained, the Tonga U20 team at the 2014 IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy in Hong Kong.

In 2017, Funaki was named in the Bay of Plenty Wasps side to play the New Zealand Universities team in an Anzac Day match.

Funaki moved to Hawke's Bay in 2018, where he played club rugby for Maori Agricultural College (MAC) Sports Association.

In 2019, he was named in the Magpies squad as a full squad member, but missed the entire 2019 Mitre 10 Cup season due to suffering two broken wrists.

In 2020, he helped the Magpies win the Ranfurly Shield, and successfully defend the Shield three times and win the Mitre 10 Cup Championship, thus securing a well-deserved promotion to the Premiership division.

Although not named in the initial Highlanders squad for the 2021 Super Rugby season, Funaki joined the squad in May 2021 on an injury replacement contract.

After another successful 2021 Bunnings NPC season with Hawke's Bay that included 6 successful Ranfurly Shield defences, Moana Pasifika announced on 16 October 2021 that the new franchise had signed Funaki for the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season.

Funaki made his test debut for Tonga on 3 July 2021 against New Zealand at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland

On 4 March 2022, Funaki wrote history by scoring Moana Pasifika's first ever try in their inaugural Super Rugby game against the Crusaders.

May 2022, he was again named in the Tongan national team for the 2022 Pacific Nations Cup and the Asia/Pacific qualification match for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

He has recently been included in Tonga's final training squad for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

S.C June 23

Career

275213_100002908945441_1598230740_n Tonga
Openside Flanker
2021 - present
Moana Pasifika Rugby Logo Moana Pasifika Rugby
Openside Flanker
2021 - present
Northland-logo Northland
Openside Flanker
2019 - 2022
Untitled (2) Hawke's Bay
Openside Flanker
2018 - 2023