Lukhan Salakaia-Loto (formerly Lukhan Tui, born 19 September 1996), is an Australian

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. He plays for the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team based in Brisbane for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union ...

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

, and his usual position is

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

but he has also played in the backrow for the Australia national team particularly at

blindside flanker Flanker is a position in the sport of rugby union. Each team of 15 players includes two flankers, who play in the forwards, and are generally classified as either blindside or openside flankers, numbers 6 and 7 respectively. The name comes from ...

Family and early life

Lukhan Herman Lealaiauloto Tui was born to parents Herman Lealaiauloto rmehnand Teresa Tuimaseve, his mother, at Otara, South Auckland in New Zealand before he moved with his mother to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia, at a young age. He changed his name to Lukhan Salakaia-Loto later as an adult in 2018 following the death of the stepfather who had raised him, hyphenating Salakaia as the surname of his late stepfather, mother and siblings with Loto from part of his birth father's last name. Lukhan's Samoan bloodline comes from the villages of Lelepa in Savaii and Faleula in

Upolu Upolu is an island in Samoa, formed by a massive basaltic shield volcano which rises from the seafloor of the western Pacific Ocean. The island is long and in area, making it the second largest of the Samoan Islands by area. With approximate ...

. Lukhan attended John Edmondson High School in Liverpool, Australia. He initially played junior

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

and was selected in age-group teams for Western Suburbs, and NSW Samoa.

Rugby career

He joined the

Randwick Randwick is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Randwick is located 6 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government ar ...

club in 2014 to play rugby union for their colts side. In 2015, he played for Randwick's first grade

Shute Shield The Shute Shield, currently known as the Charter Hall Shute Shield, is a semi-professional rugby union competition in Sydney, Australia. It is the premier club competition in New South Wales. The Shute Shield is awarded to the winning team fro ...

team, and was named (as Lukhan Lealaiaulolo-Tui) for the Australia under-20 team that played in the World Junior Championship in Italy. Later in 2015, he signed a three-year deal with the

. Tui made his

debut for the Reds against the in Pretoria on 16 April 2016. He was selected in the squad for the

National Rugby Championship The National Rugby Championship, known as NRC, was an Australian rugby union competition. It was contested by eight teams, seven from Australia and one from Fiji. The tournament ran from 2014 until 2019 before being disbanded in 2020 following t ...

in 2015, but did not play for that side due to injury. He made his NRC debut the following season for the team. In 2017, national coach

Michael Cheika Michael Cheika (born 4 March 1967) is an Australian professional rugby union and rugby league coach, and former rugby union player. He is head coach of Leicester Tigers in England's Premiership Rugby. Cheika was the coach of the Australia r ...

named Lukhan Tui on the bench for in the match against at

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein ( ; ), also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State (province), Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongsi ...

, and he made his international debut on 30 September 2017, replacing

Adam Coleman Adam Coleman (born 7 October 1991) is a professional rugby union player who plays as a lock for Top 14 club Bordeaux Bègles. Born in Australia, he represents Tonga at international level after qualifying on ancestry grounds. Club career C ...

after the first hour in a 27-all tied test. On 1 March 2022, it was confirmed that Salakaia-Loto would move to England to join

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union. It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. ...

in the

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby ...

ahead of the 2022-23 season. In January 2023, Salakaia-Loto was suspended for four weeks following his sending-off for dangerous play in a Champions Cup match against

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

. After spending the 2024 season with Melbourne Rebels, he returned to the Reds for 2025.

Super Rugby statistics

References

External links

Stats on itsrugby.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salakaia-Loto, Lukhan 1996 births Australian rugby union players Australian sportspeople of Samoan descent Australian people of New Zealand descent Australia international rugby union players Queensland Reds players Queensland Country (NRC team) players Rugby union locks Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights Rugby union players from Sydney Rugby union players from Auckland Living people Brisbane City (rugby union) players Northampton Saints players Australian expatriate rugby union players in England Melbourne Rebels players 2019 Rugby World Cup players Randwick DRUFC players 21st-century Australian sportsmen