Remisio Lakina is set to embark on the adventure of a lifetime, having been included in the Pacifique Treize Under 17 rugby league team to play 3 games in North Queensland, Australia in February.
16-year-old Lakina has travelled from Futuna to New Caledonia for 4 weeks of training before travelling with his new teammates to Australia. The tour will be the first of it’s kind for the Pacifique Treize entity and the will include players from New Caledonia, Vanuatu and mainland France. Lakina was identified when playing for Wallis et Futuna U16 sevens team whilst touring New Caledonia in late 2023 and was invited by Pacifique Treize officials to come and join the team to tour Australia.
Pacifique Treize Director Manuel Jalabert commented “Remisio Lakina displayed very good skills when representing Wallis et Futuna in rugby sevens and we believe he has the fundamental skills that will do well in rugby league. Remisio has also shown tremendous spirit and willingness to be part of this team and we are very happy that he chose to come back to New Caledonia from Futuna to commence training”.
“Remisio Lakina was 1 of 3 players we had identified from Wallis et Futuna, however we were not able to make contact with the other 2 players which is unfortunate, yet we hope that Remisio’s involvement will showcase rugby league to other players in Wallis et Futuna and that hopefully we can introduce some development squads in Wallis et Futuna later this year. We want to provide opportunities to talented players from all French speaking Pacific territories and we know very well the immense rugby talent that exists in Wallis et Futuna” Jalabert said.
Whilst in Australia, the Pacifique Treize U17 team will play against powerhouse clubs Mackay Cutters, Townsville Blackhawks and Northern Pride whilst also getting to tour NRL club North Queensland Cowboys facilities. The players will get to rub shoulders with some Pacific enforcers including Tongan trio Jason Taumalolo, Viliami Vailea and Kulikefu Finefeuiaki and Samoan stars Luciano Leilua, Heilum Luki and Murray Taulagi.
