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A seething Stefano Utoikamanu has fumed at officials, claiming it was unfair that Francis Molo was not sent to the sin bin for a high shot on the Melbourne Storm star, which brought a premature end to his Tonga debut.
The 25-year-old prop forward, who switched national allegiances from Samoa to Tonga this year, believes had he not been forced to leave the pitch due to a concussion, the scoreline would have been different for his side, who went on to suffer a 34-6 defeat.
The incident happened in the first two minutes of the match, with the match review committee charging Molo with a grade-two careless high tackle.
It means the Dolphins star will be docked 13 per cent of his $3,000 match fee, which works out at $390, but he will not be banned from playing for Samoa in the Pacific Cup final on Sunday, November 9.
Utoikamanu, though, fumed at what he believed was a lenient sanction, while confirming he was feeling much better following the head knock.
‘It’s s*** I got ruled out so fast, and I also felt like he [Molo] should have been sin-binned for that – I’m done for the game, and he just gets put on report,’ Utoikamanu said to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Stefano Utoikamanu (left) has fumed at officials for a lack of fairness, with the Storm prop claiming Francis Molo should have been sin binned for this hit during Samoa's win against Tonga on Sunday
Utoikamanu was forced to leave the field with a concussion, bringing an early end to his Tonga debut
The prop forward (centre) claimed that the officiating was 's***' before adding that he knew 'as soon as he hit me that I wasn't coming back'
‘His shoulder went straight to my face. I don’t know what more evidence you need to sin bin someone.
‘I get it, we lost. But that [moment] affects our game. We weren’t even two minutes into the game.
‘I knew as soon as he hit me and I went down, I wasn’t coming back.
‘I’m all right now. But I’m out for 11 days. He came up to me afterwards, but I’m disappointed.’
The Storm second-row, who was born in New Zealand, had represented Samoa once previously back in 2023.
While his mother hails from Samoa, his paternal family are of Tongan heritage.
But after Sunday’s game, the 25-year-old explained: ‘It’s not the way I wanted to start my Tongan journey.’
It’s been a tough month for Utoikamanu after the Melbourne Storm suffered their second-straight NRL Grand Final loss, with Brisbane claiming the spoils at the Accor Stadium on October 5.
Utoikamanu had been at the centre of controversy in the build up to the NRL Grand Final. He had claimed that several Broncos players were 'stuck up' prompting Reece Walsh to fire a shot back at the Storm prop as his side celebrated their premiership victory
Utoikamanu (second from right) has broken his silence on the matter, claiming that he had made the comments to help fire himself up
In the build-up to the match, the 25-year-old stoked the flames by calling the Broncos players ‘stuck up’.
He added that he could not wait to ‘run over’ the Brisbane players.
But as the Broncos celebrated their victory, Reece Walsh threw a dig back at Utoikamanu, chanting the words: ‘Stefano’s stuck, we’re f***ing it up baby,’ with his team-mates cheering in unison.
Utoikamanu has since opened up on the barbs, stating that while he didn’t know many of the Brisbane players, he had intended to use the war of words as a motivator to help his side win a premiership.
‘That whole thing during grand final week, it dragged on,’ he told The Sydney Morning Herald.
‘I don’t really know most of those [Brisbane] boys. Like any footy player, you need motivation before you go on the field, and that was mine.
‘I said I don’t like them, so I play better and do my job better. It’s shit we lost, but I can’t do anything about it. I got to play in a grand final. And I’m stoked for those boys, they got the win.’
