The Cronulla Sharks are bringing a little Dunedin flavour to their club this year.
The Sydney club has had its share of family connections over the years, but its latest is a couple of New Zealand cousins.
An injury crisis meant Tupou Sopoaga (21) and Tinirau Arona (24) got an opportunity to start the Sharks match against the Gold Coast on Monday night from the bench.
If those names seem familiar to you, that is because they should be.
Tupou Sopoaga is the younger brother of Highlanders first five-eighth Lima Sopoaga and Arona lived in Dunedin until he was 12 and played rugby union for Southern.
Arona was making his debut for Cronulla and opened the scoring with a try after 15 minutes.
Sopoaga was playing in just his second NRL match after making his debut for the Sharks last season.
Earlier this week, the pair told the Daily Telegraph they were excited about the prospect of playing together.
''I grew up playing rugby union in New Zealand and every Christmas we would come over [to Sydney] and would try and stay back here and try and live with T [Arona], but my mum wouldn't let me,'' Sopoaga said.
Sopoaga moved to Australia when he signed with the Canterbury Bulldogs in 2011 but transferred to the Sharks last year.
''I had no family here except for T. It was tough but they made it easier for me to train hard and work towards the NRL.''
Arona played in 36 NRL matches for the Sydney Roosters but the decision to sign with the Sharks this season was easy.
''The opportunity came up to sign with the Sharks and knowing that Tupou was here, I thought it would be something special to play alongside each other.
''It's been a bit buzzy since I got here,'' Arona said.
