From Laei to Limerick - Roman Salanoa's Irish journey

If he stayed fit, this was always going to be a big year for Roman Salanoa.

And with the final third of the URC season still to come, as well as the Champions Cup knockouts, it's already proven to be just that.

With 13 appearances to his name this season for Munster, and another three for Emerging Ireland, he's logged more gametime in this campaign than he had in the previous three seasons combined.

It's more than six years since he first came to Ireland from his native Hawaii, initially for a trial with Leinster in late 2016, before linking up with the province's sub-academy the following September, just before his 20th birthday.

His debut eventually followed in December 2019, before Munster swooped in to sign him in the summer of 2020, a move which ruffled a few feathers at his former province.

He featured seven times off the bench in his debut season at Thomond Park, but a series of injuries saw his progression stall in the 2021/22 campaign where he featured just twice.

Having never started a senior game before this summer, the departure of John Ryan left Munster with some inexperienced stocks at tighthead, and it meant that both he and Keynan Knox were always likely to get significant gametime this season. And although Ryan would return in October, injuries to Knox and Stephen Archer made Salanoa a regular presence in the matchday 23.

"You pretty much summed up my time here at Munster," he says, when told that he's played more this season than in the previous three combined.

"I had a very slow start coming over here from Dublin but I've been able to find my feet this year and kind of use the change of coaching staff to really take advantage of that and start fresh, work on my body a bit more, and take advantage of the things