Koloamatangi now chasing some meaningful game time
Tevita Koloamatangi, shown here scoring for the Chiefs against the Stormers, is looking for an injury-free season with the Tasman Makos.
It shouldn't surprise anyone that Tevita Koloamatangi has one clear goal in mind for the coming national provincial rugby season.
The Tasman Makos loose forward simply wants to get some consistent game time under his belt.
Koloamatangi's endured a wretched Super Rugby season with the Chiefs with concussion and a back injury keeping him out of action for almost the entire campaign.
He was initially concussed playing for the Chiefs' development team against the Hurricanes in a pre-season blow-out, then injured his lower back a few weeks later, a niggly injury that took ages to come right.
Family commitments have kept him Auckland for the past two weeks, which means he won't play in Tasman's final pre-season game against Manawatu on Friday. But he's now finally ready to put his ill-fortune behind him.
"I've come through some hard times and finally getting the body right," Koloamatangi said. "It's been tough, specially coming back from an ankle injury the previous year."
He eventually got back on the field as a reserve in the Chiefs' big 40-7 win over Wales in June where he also suffered what he thought was a serious shoulder injury.
"I thought I was gone for the season. I was really in tears and then funnily enough I started to regain some feeling back in my shoulder. It was an auxilliary nerve which I banged up real good and my whole arm was just dead."
While he still feels the effects of that injury, Koloamatangi said "it's definitely much better than it was".
A timely recovery allowed him to travel with the Chiefs to South Africa to play the Stormers where he came off the bench to score a late try in the 60-21 win.
"That was my first time over in South Africa and to get the call up to go over with the team was awesome."
Now he's back with the Makos, simply looking to improve on his 33 outings for the province since debuting in 2010.
"That's the big focus this year, just to get some regular game time, get the body right and hopefully be injury free this year."
He said that the Tasman squad, named on Tuesday, was "young and exciting" and was determined to play a significant role in this year's NPC campaign.
"Physically, I feel I'm the best I've been all year. After all those injuries, I'm pretty happy with where I am now."
Koloamatangi turns 28 next month so adds plenty of experience to a dynamic Tasman loose forward unit.
"I'm not the youngest [now], I'm getting a bit older, so the goal is just to train smart and get the body right. Hopefully I'll be good enough to make the 23 and then I'll just take it day by day.
"I guess this is sort of do-or-die for me this season. I've come off contract with the Chiefs, so it's a big year for me to just get back to what I was doing a couple of seasons ago and stay injury-free."
