A smile as bright as the brightest summer day lit up Wallis Citytti’s face on Sunday night in Monaco. We took a moment to reflect on his quick five-month journey to becoming the 2024 World Rugby Men’s Breakthrough Player of the Year.
The 22-year-old North Harbor prospect has set himself the modest goal of making just one Super Rugby Pacific appearance with the Chiefs. Instead, after featuring 13 times in the Auckland final against the Blues, Scott Robertson wanted a look and the rest is now inspiring history.
Four Rugby Championship wins have followed since his 25-minute debut off the bench in California v Fiji, but the best is yet to come. He played 80 minutes over five successive weekends and helped the All Blacks win four of their five tour matches. .
The end of that grueling shift in Turin came on Saturday night, with Citi packing on the blindside to secure a tour-ending victory over Italy. After covering 260km in a day, he was stunned on the Monte Carlo stage to discover that he had beaten fellow award hopefuls Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu of South Africa, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso of Great Britain and Ireland’s Jamie Osborne.
Could he have imagined that his year would change so brilliantly? “No, not in a million years.” He chuckled. rugby pass When trying to make sense of it all. “I would have been happy to play just one game against Chiefs during the Super Rugby season, but to be able to be here was definitely unexpected. “It’s really crazy.”
If Monaco was an unlikely place to end Sititi’s breakthrough year, San Diego was also an unlikely place to start. Robertson’s All Blacks era came with a thumping win in the home Test series against England and he was keen to cast the nets to see what could be trolled in a friendly in the US.
Sititi was hooked. “Team names are decided every Tuesday, so I guess I have some time to find out what’s going on.” He described the adventures in the United States that ignited his international career.
“Getting the word out to the families and making sure the process goes right throughout the week and leading up to the game was the fun part of the week. It’s about enjoying it, enjoying the moment, being in the moment and just living.”
That life included phone calls home that still ‘get’ him. “It was emotional,” he said, recalling what it felt like to tell his family he would be an All Black.
“I called my dad and sure enough, my mom was there too. It was emotional. “They’ve been with me from the beginning so it’s been great to take them on this journey and to do this for them is special to me and special to the family.”
Especially since his father Semo knows all about it having played on the Test pitch himself with Samoa. Are you ecstatic? “Yes, I am. clearly.”
Now, after taking a breather, having watched him rise to the top of the sport, what advice does Citi have for aspiring young people who aspire to be like him? “Keep your feet on the ground. Stay humble, cool-headed and enjoy the moment.”
Cititi certainly did. If you ask him what his favorite moment on tour was, he has no hesitation. “We beat England at Twickenham. “I felt a bit of relief when I missed the drop goal at the end.”
