Solomone Kata: Leicester Tigers centre on his rise from remote island to rugby stardom
- Published
Solomone Kata joined Leicester Tigers from Exeter Chiefs this season
Solomone Kata learned to play rugby union even before he had a ball to play it with on the volcanic island he grew up on.
Since using rugby to escape daily chores on Niuafoʻou - the northern most island in the kingdom of Tonga, in the South Pacific Ocean - Leicester Tigers' powerful winger-turned-centre Kata has lived a few different sporting careers already.
He started as a Tongan schoolboy, chasing a life-changing rugby scholarship in New Zealand, who then went on to play rugby league internationally for his adopted country before going on to become a dual-code Tonga international.
Dan McKellar played a pivotal role in bringing the 29-year-old back to rugby union, signing him from NRL side Melbourne Storm when he was ACT Brumbies boss in 2020, and the Australian coach made Kata one of the first players he brought in after getting the Tigers job in February.
"I was grateful to Dan," Kata told BBC Radio Leicester.
"The reason I came back [to rugby union] was because in the back of my head I also wanted to play rugby at a high level."
'A water bottle for a ball'
Two tries on his European Champions Cup debut for Leicester Tigers, in their come-from-behind win against Stormers on Sunday, was the latest proof that he has done exactly that.
He has already scored three tries for Tigers this season, having managed five in 20 appearances for Exeter Chiefs in his only previous season in the English Premiership last term.
His strong start at Mattioli Woods Welford Road comes after returning from the World Cup in France.
And it was before that tournament, when Kata made a trip back to the remote island where he was raised, that he paused to appreciate how much he has already achieved in the game.
"I grew up on an island with no rugby balls to play with or anything," he said.
"It's where I started, on the parks there playing with a bottle of water because we didn't have balls back then.
"It is one of those memories that takes me back to where I started with nothing, and you see where I am now - I'm pretty grateful.
"When I started, I didn't know anything about rugby, it was just for fun.
"Normally, growing up in Tonga, if you are a boy you have to do the cooking outside, and I had to help my old man on the farm, but I always ran away from that. I ran to the rugby field and found something to play with and ran around with that."
It was not until one of his older brothers left the island for the mainland that Kata was gifted a ball for the first time.
By the time he was a teenager, he earned a scholarship to Auckland's Sacred Hearts College, and graduating from there saw him switch codes to rugby league with the New Zealand Warriors.
"Like any kid from the islands it was a massive opportunity for me at the time, even though I didn't know league," he said.
"I threw myself in there and did good for seven years."
His time with the Warriors ended, before an unsuccessful spell with the Storm led to his move back to rugby union with McKellar's Brumbies.
It was there that Kata had to relearn how to play the 15-man game with a role on the wing, where he got himself back up to speed.
"Dan called me back from league and I played wing for two years with Brumbies, and think at the time it was the right choice," Kata said.
"I played rugby until high school and it was a very different game to Super Rugby, or even high-level rugby.
"He put me on the wing to just run, get the ball and not have to think about passing and stuff like that.
"If I had to pick a position, it would be centres more than wing now. That is what my game is based on, the physical side of me in attack.
"I get my hand on the ball more, and just do my best."