The one-time
England wing talks about his reintegration into the Premiership side, living with depression, and how
golf and his family have helped him reinvent himself
When Alex Sanderson announced Sale’s squad for their opening match of the season against Bath last month, Denny Solomona was absent from the list. No great surprise on the face of it, given the one-time England wing had featured only once in the Premiership since Sanderson took over in January, but for Solomona it was a setback. He had approached pre-season with a renewed determination and it hit him like a “ton of bricks”; he was angry .
On Saturday, however, Solomona starts his second successive match for Sale. Sanderson has spoken of how impressed he has been by the 28-year-old’s ability to get over his initial frustration. Indeed, the Sharks director of rugby has described Solomona’s reintegration into the side as one of his proudest achievements at the club and to understand why it is worth rewinding the clock. For it is little over a year since Solomona laid bare his demons in a candid and raw interview – the past problems with drinking, drugs and the suicidal thoughts that he had encountered as a result of depression. Comparatively, Solomona cuts a more content figure today but as he says, “depression is always there” and he has recently described his long spell out of the side last season as a “dark time”. He had become bored with the sport and even considered retiring.