The whirlwind first season in the big time continues for Shark Ronaldo Mulitalo with the young gun called into the Samoan team for their tour of New Zealand.
Currently in Papua New Guinea on a community trip with teammate Sione Katoa and Sharks Development Manager Daniel Holdsworth, with the group helping to build schools outside the Port Moresby region, Mulitalo has been summoned into camp ahead of the two matches scheduled for the Samoans.
Their first match is against the Canterbury Bulls at Nga Puna Wai in Christchurch on Friday, followed by a game against Fiji in the Oceania Cup to be played at Eden Park next Saturday.
His selection caps an outstanding year for Mulitalo, who made his NRL debut in exceptional circumstances back in a round seven match against the Broncos when called into the Sharks team after Josh Dugan was injured in the warm up.
He went on to play eight NRL games, scoring five tries and signed a two-year contract extension with the Sharks earlier this year.
At the completion of the Sharks NRL season Mulitalo went back to play for the Newtown Jets in the Canterbury Cup, playing a leading role in their march to the NSWRL title, then national championship victory, before being included in the USA team at the World Nines due to his American Samoan heritage.
In a team struggling to compete with the leading sides, Mulitalo impressed with his wholehearted performances at the Nines, his efforts obviously being recognised by Samoan coach Matt Parish who has added the talented outside back to his Toa Samoa squad for the two international upcoming matches.
