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Peñarol continue to finalize their player roster. With two months to go until the inaugural Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR) season, the Uruguayan side has now added two additional foreign players. The latest additions are two Tongans – Sefo Sakalia and Atieli Pakalani.
The players bring with them Rugby World Cup experience with both men having been a part of Tonga’s RWC 2019 roster.
Sefo Sakalia is a 28-year-old hooker. A local product, he played for Tonga at u20s level before rising to the seniors where he made his test debut against Canada at the 2015 Pacific Nations Cup. His move to Uruguay follows prior professional experience playing for Steaua București, and Olimpia București in Romania; and for the Singapore based Asia Pacific Dragons.
The 30-year-old Atieli Pakalani is an outside back who plays both wing and fullback. He was schooled at Tamaki College in Auckland, New Zealand. It was in New Zealand where his professional career began playing for Auckland in the domestic championship in 2009. He has also played Super Rugby for the Waratahs; in the Pro D2 for Carcassonne; and in the English Premiership for the Leicester Tigers.
At RWC 2019 Pakalani faced France in Kumamoto and the USA in Osaka; while Sakalia played against England in Sapporo, France in Kumamoto, and Argentina in Osaka.
