St.George Queensland Reds lock in Curtis Browning and Chris Feauai-Sautia
Queensland Rugby Union has re-signed St.George Queensland Reds young guns Curtis Browning and Chris Feauai-Sautia ahead of the 2016 season.
Feauai-Sautia has inked a two-year deal with the club, while Browning has signed a contract extension for one year.
Both players are in the early stages of their careers, are just 21 years old and have been with the Reds since they graduated from Brisbane State High School.
Feauai-Sautia famously joined the club as a teenager, signing when he was just 17 years old – following impressive performances in schoolboy Rugby. He made his Queensland debut in 2012 as an 18-year-old and made his Wallabies debut the following year, scoring two tries in as many Tests.
While his early career was troubled with constant hamstring injuries, the power winger had arguably his most consistent season in 2015. He featured in all but one of the Reds’ games this season and sits in the top five for the team in run metres (715m), broken tackles (31), line breaks (13) and offloads (9). He has played a total 38 times for Queensland and scored eight tries.
The grandson of former Wallabies centre Dick Marks, Browning is a two-time Australian Under-20s Player of the Year and also captained the age-grade national side at the 2013 Junior World Championship. Now in his second year of professional Rugby with 20 Queensland caps to his ledger, Browning was a regular member of the Reds match-day 23 this season before suffering a knee injury while on tour in South Africa.
Reds head coach Richard Graham said: “At 21 years of age, these guys are still just youngsters and their best Rugby is ahead of them. The more they play and the more they learn, the better they will be.
“For Chris (Feauai-Sautia), the 2015 season has arguably been his best and that is largely due to overcoming the injuries that plagued his earlier years. He is explosive, big and physical and those are wonderful qualities to build on.
“Curtis had made some real progress this season until injury forced him out. He has deep ties to Queensland Rugby and he was always someone we wanted to keep in our program.”
While Browning is currently recovering from a knee reconstruction, Feauai-Sautia is expected to feature for one of Queensland’s two teams in the Buildcorp National Rugby Championship later this year.
Curtis Browning
Position: Loose forward
Height: 190cm
Weight: 108kg
DOB: 30/10/1993
POB: Brisbane, QLD
School: Brisbane State High School
Club: University of Queensland
Representative honours: Australian Schoolboys (2009-2011), Australian Under 20s (2012-2013), Australian Universities (2012), Queensland (2013-).
Queensland Rugby debut: 2013 v Bulls, Suncorp Stadium
Queensland Rugby caps: 20
Queensland Rugby points: 10 (2T)
Super Rugby debut: 2013 v Bulls, Suncorp Stadium
Super Rugby caps: 20
Super Rugby points: 10 (2T)
Chris Feauai-Sautia
Position: Wing
Height: 181cm
Weight: 92kg
DOB: 17/11/1993
POB: Auckland, NZ
School: Brisbane State High School
Club: Souths
Representative honours: Australian Schoolboys (2009-2011), Australian Under 20s (2012), Queensland (2012-), Australian Wallabies (2013-).
Queensland Rugby debut: 2012 v Lions, Suncorp Stadium
Queensland Rugby caps: 38
Queensland Rugby points: 40 (8T)
Super Rugby debut: 2012 v Lions, Suncorp Stadium
Super Rugby caps: 38
Super Rugby points: 40 (8T)
Test Rugby debut: 2013 v South Africa, Cape Town
Test Rugby caps: 2
Test Rugby points: 10 (2T)
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