Feaunati To Trial With Cronulla

Marist St Pats wing Dominic Feaunati will trial with the Cronulla Sharks this week.

The former Wellington rugby representative left for Sydney on Sunday for a two-week trial with the National Rugby League club.

On Saturday, Feaunati, who made four appearances for the Lions in 1997, played wing for MSP in the opening round of premier club rugby at Trentham.

The 24-year-old recently returned to New Zealand after spending the past two seasons at Pontypridd in Wales. He played for Viadana in Italy in 2000.

Feaunati's agent Rob Brady said the player was exploring his options in league, but had not ruled out rugby.

"If he cannot play as a fulltime professional in league then his aspiration is to play for Samoa at the rugby World Cup."

Brady said Feaunati had trialled with the New Zealand Warriors in February including a game against the Sharks.

The Warriors were impressed, but felt he had not played enough league in recent times to warrant a full-time contract. The club asked him to play for an Auckland team in the Bartercard Cup so it could assess him further.

But Brady said the Feaunati was looking for a fulltime professional contract and the Sharks were looking for a wing.

The 110kg Samoan does have a league background. He represented the Monty Betham-captained New Zealand under-15 team in 1993 and played for the Upper Hutt Tigers in 1995 before switching codes.

Sharks recruitment manager Theo Burgess told League Correspondent the club had not seen him play, but had received favourable reports.

"We don't know too much about him . . . he hasn't got a contract, but we will look at him in the first division trial . . . if he plays well then we'll offer him a contract."