BY JOHN DAVIDSON
YOU go to watch a rugby league game and you never expect terrible things to happen. But when you see people running at each other at high speeds with literally no thought of self-preservation, in one of the toughest sports that exist, players are literally putting their lives on the line.
And so was the case of Mose Masoe last Sunday.
Just two minutes into a friendly against Wakefield Trinity at Belle Vue, Hull KR were defending their try-line.
Chris Green ran a crash ball just metres out and Robins hooker Jez Litten dove in to tackle Green’s legs. As Green spun in the tackle, Masoe came over the top to wrap Green up.
As Green, and Masoe, both fell to the turf the Kiwi prop bumped into the chest of Hull KR fullback Adam Quinlan, who had come across to join the tackle and to make sure Green was stopped from scoring.
It was a freak accident, a completely innocous piece of contact that could happen more than 100 times in a game. But with that small act Masoe was down injured, his career over, and his long-term health in grave doubt.
The New Zealander was motionless on the ground for more than 10 minutes while medical staff attended to him. Eventually he was put in a neck brace and stretchered off. You always hope that measure is precautionary, but when someone doesn’t walk from the field deep down you know it is very serious.
And so it with Masoe.
A week later he remains in hospital after surgery with a long battle ahead of him. His playing days are over, but hopefully one day he will walk again.
Despite a career in the NRL with the Sydney Roosters and Penrith Panthers, and stints in England with St Helens and Hull KR, the 30-year-old was not publicly particularly well known.
Despite playing in a World Cup and a Four Nations, and winning a grand final, he did not have a big profile or media image. He did not seek the limelight or chase attention.
Masoe in every way was the quiet achiever, the humble athlete, a gentle giant.
At 199cm and 125 kilograms you couldn’t miss the front-rower from Wellington, but behind his size was a friendly and generous individual.
An imposing figure with a huge, beaming smile and a heart of gold.
“He’s just a genuine good bloke who is always smiling and happy, I never once heard him complain,” Josh Drinkwater, who played alongside Masoe in 2019 at Hull KR, says.
“It could be minus 2 degrees and raining and he’d still come into training each morning with a big smile on his face.”
“The main thing is he’d do anything for anyone.
“We had a team drink in Leeds and it’s hard getting back to Hull, he couldn’t make the day time drink but he organised through one of the sponsors to borrow a mini bus and drove up in the night. stayed out and drove the Hull boys back to Hull and dropped everyone home. That sums up the type of bloke he is.”
On the field Masoe was big, tough, strong and powerful. He was a prop who took the difficult carries and didn’t shirt his workload. He hit hard in defence and was the dutiful soldier.
He made his NRL debut in 2010 for the Roosters and helped the club reach the grand final in his maiden campaign.
Masoe didn’t play in that decider, but two years later he started in the Newtown Jets’ NSW Cup grand final win over Balmain Ryde Eastwood.
The Jets were then the Roosters feeder team and the Kiwi was part of a team, that included the likes of Daniel Tupou, Justin Carney, Daniel Mortimer Mark Kheirallah and Isaac Liu, that knocked off a Tigers side that featured Tim Simona, Junior Moors, Rhys Curren, Ava Seumanufagai and Dane Chisholm.
In 2013 he joined Penrith, playing for a season in the foot of the mountains before heading to England to join St Helens on a two-year deal.
In his first season in Merseyside he would help Saints break their drought and win the Super League grand final at Old Trafford. Masoe was only at St Helens for two years, but made a big impact there.
“Mose was signed alongside Luke Walsh from Penrith and Phil Gould highlighted that Mose had great potential and believed he would be a big hit in England,” St Helens CEO Mike Rush remembers.
“Mose has played for Samoa at Warrington and was outstanding before he joined the club and had given the fans a flavour of what they could expect. Mose was exactly what the club needed at the time as he was a big ball carrier who brought energy to the side when we had the ball.
“He immediately fitted into the group and struck up close relationships with Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Sia Soliola and Willie Manu and quickly became a very popular member of the squad.
“2014 was an outstanding year for the club with the Super League title returning to St Helens that season. Mose played a massive part in that season, playing in every round if my memory serves me correct.
“Mose has a big smile which is hard to miss and he enjoyed every minute of his time across both the 2014 and the World Club Challenge season of 2015.
“I can’t remember Mose ever having an injury while he was with us and was the backbone of the squad across that two-year period.
“I can remember how close he became to both LMS and Alex Walmsley during the 2015 season and was fantastic when Adam Quinlan came midway through the 2015 season, a player who Mose is once again teammates with at Hull KR.
“The club was disappointed when Mose informed us he was moving to St George Illawarra for the 2016 season, however we completely understood his reasons as they were family-driven and this was the correct path to take at that time.
“As a person I am not sure you will meet a better person than Mose as he is always happy, polite and brings energy and enthusiasm to everything he does.
“He was a pleasure to have at the club and he remains close to many at St Helens including the stadium manager at the time Phil White, who alongside his wife Janet, became Mose’s father/mother figures when it came to anything from finding a house to sorting his car out.
“Phil and Janet will I am sure will once again be on hand to help Mose and his family at this most difficult time. As a club we too will do anything we can and we are already planning how we can support the family alongside Hull KR, with the game against Hull KR being central to the fundraising events by all.
“The town took Mose as one of their own in 2014 and Mose embraced the town and the club, as I am sure he has done at Hull KR, he knows no other way.
“We try as a club via the Chairman and myself to keep in touch on a daily basis with Neil Hudgell, the Chairman of Hull KR, on the progress Mose is making.
“It goes without staying we will be there to help Mose in any way we can and I am sure the same will be said for the rugby league family.”
Masoe left St Helens and returned to the NRL in 2016 with St George lllawarra but disaster struck, with an ACL tear in pre-season ending his campaign before it had even began.
Masoe would not play a single game for the Dragons, leaving in 2017 to come back to the UK and join Hull KR. At Craven Park, under the old master Tim Sheens, the front-rower became a firm favourite has he helped the club win promotion back to Super League in his first year.
Over the past two seasons he has been a mainstay as the Robins have maintained their Super League status. He was expected to play another important role this year for the east Yorkshire club, until this freak accident.
Now, all that matters is that he walks again. That he gets to play with his kids, his son and two daughters, and hold his fourth child, with his wife currently pregnant.
The tributes and messages to Masoe have been inspiring in the past week. The rugby league family have closed around the Samoan international and many have donated to his recovery.
To Steve Gillis, who has managed Masoe for the past 14 years, the 30-year-old is a special person.
“I’ve looked after Mose since 2006,” Gillis explains.
“I think he was 17 when he came on board. I flew to Wellington in NZ to meet him. I recall us sitting in a cafe with his mum. It was the first time he met me and I asked him to put his trust in me. He did and we have never looked back.
“We have built a firm friendship. In 25 years of management I’d have to say Mose fits into the ‘special’ category. He’s the type of player every agent dreams of having on their books.
“Low maintenance, hard-working, caring, a family man who lights up a room when he walks into it. Total professional. He’s the type of guy who would lick you to death.
“He is extremely highly regarded by all who play both with and against him. The accident has shaken everyone in Australia.
“Phil Gould was one of the first to contact me when the accident happened and said mate please pass on my thoughts and prayers to Mose and his family. Phil was instrumental in getting Mose from the Roosters to Penrith.
“His situation has rattled everyone and right now, apart from supporting Carissa and the family, we are trying to hatch a few ideas on how we can support them financially.
“Mose goes down – without doubt – as one of the best people I have ever been associated with in rugby league. He’s also extremely tough and courageous – thats why we all have high hopes of him making a recovery from this most difficult situation.”
To help Masoe and his family as he continues his rehabilitation you can donate here.
