Maama Molitika signs for Harlequins
By The Prof
July 9 2004
Maama Molitika is Quins latest signing, he is a Tongan international who won the last of his four caps against Scotland in 2001. In the same season he played for Bridgend against Harlequins twice and was on the losing side both times although he did manage to score in the game at The Stoop.
| Name: | Maamakalafi Molitika |
 |
| Date of birth: | 26th August 1974 | |
| Weight: | 16st 4lbs (103.6kg) | |
| Height: |
6' 5"(1.95m) |
|
| Position: | Back row | |
| Marital Status: | Married | |
| Previous Clubs: | Celtic Warriors, Bridgend | |
| Honours: | Tonga (4 caps), Tonga 7s | |
| Intenational Debut: | 21 Jun 1997 against Fiji | |
| Latest Cap: |
10 Nov 2001 against Scotland |
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| Signed for: | 3 years, 2004/5, 2005/6, 2006/7 |
In 2002/3 he was Bridgend's joint top try scorer with 8 tries when he was in the same squad as Dafydd James and Josh Taumalolo. It was an historic season for Bridgend, they won the Welsh Premiership for the first time in the club's history.
He is a big abrasive back row who likes to run at defences, he has the excellent ball handling skills that we have come to expect from the Islanders at Quins. He is the sort of agressive player that we need at The Stoop. His height at the back of the lineout will be extremely useful where he will probably be a good replacement for Pat Sanderson. Like Sanderson he has also played sevens at international level.
Maama is married to an English woman so he is EU qualified meaning we only have Ace Tiatia as an overseas player.
Molitika also brings experience of playing in the Heineken Cup, he played all of the Celtic Warriors' fixtures in Europe last season.
The fact that Evans has offered him a three year contract suggests he is something special, most new signings only get two years at most.