Solomona and Meroiti win College Sport Wellington rugby awards

Elijah Solomona playing for the St Pat’s Silverstream 7s team on Saturday. Photo by Club Rugby.

St Pat’s Silverstream captain and openside flanker Elijah Solomona and Tawa College and Northern United utility back Baylee Meroiti are the 2025 College Sport Wellington boys and girls Rugby Players of the Year.

The pair won these awards at the CSW annual Sportsperson of the Year Awards (SPOTYS) at Te Rauparaha Arena on Sunday night.

The boys award generally goes to the player who has made the highest representative team of the year, and this year Solomona was the only Wellington player to make either the NZ Schools or NZ Barbarians Schools teams. He was selected for the Barbarians.

Solomona led St Pat’s Silverstream to the 2025 Premiership First XV title, scoring this try below in the final against Wellington College at Porirua Park in August.

Footage above is copyright Club Rugby – in case Sky get ideas and thinks its theirs. 

The other two boys finalists were Tawa College captain and midfielder Malachi Osman and Wellington College first five Archie Sims. Osman was in the New Zealand Māori U18s team.

Solomona follows his former St Pat’s Silverstream Senio Sanele as a winner of this award – Sanele winning two years ago and he recently made his NPC debut for the Wellington Lions. Another Silverstream player, first-five Thompson Tukapua was last year’s winner of this award.

Other famous loose forwards to win have included Victor Vito and Ardie Savea – although Savea won as a midfielder at the time for the Rongotai College First XV.

Another recent winner is former St Pat’s Town prop Siale Lauaki and he is currently in Europe with the All Blacks XV side.

Meanwhile, it has been a meteoric rise for Baylee Meroiti. The current Tawa College year 13 student only took up senior rugby at the start of this year, having last played at junior level for Northern United five years previously.

She re-joined Norths this year and played a full season for their women’s team, mostly at halfback. Norths were beaten finalists to Petone this year.

Meroiti has a background in other sports. Last year she was in the Aotearoa Māori Netball Secondary Schools team, and has also played cricket for the crack Tawa College girls First XI.

She then made the Wellington Pride squad and was involved in most of their campaign and spent most of her time on the wing, making her FPC debut against Otago at home at Porirua Park.

Emerald Tuhiwai-Polson (St Mary’s), Keiana Roffey (Wellington Girls’ College) were the other two finalists. Both also made their Wellington Pride debuts this year.

Last year’s winner was former Sacred Heart College and Wainuiomata’s Fanua Rimoni.