HIGHLY respected Tim Sheens got to work with Peter Mata’utia for five days and then proclaimed Warrington Wolves are on to a winner with his signing.

Former world-cup winning Australia boss Sheens got close and personal with Mata’utia last week as head coach of the hastily formed Combined Nations All Stars team which defeated England 26-24 at The Halliwell Jones Stadium.

And the 30-year-old Samoan international, who will be joining The Wire from Castleford Tigers for 2022, went on to be named man of the match.

“He’s a big body, he’s fit, and he’s got versatility,” said Sheens, who has coached four NRL premiership winning teams at Canberra Raiders and Wests Tigers while more recently plying his trade in England with Hull KR and Widnes Vikings.

“If you can play full-back and centre, and handle both really well like he can – and I imagine he could have played 13 though maybe not for 80 minutes – he’s got the versatility that makes him a valuable player.

“In a long season to have the ability of a utility player who can play well in two or three positions is worth their weight in gold.”

Of Mata’utia’s performance mostly up against Ben Currie, his future Wire teammate who was played out of position at left centre in Shaun Wane’s first game in charge of England, Sheens said: “Peter did a great job. We had to shuffle the side and put him back to full-back and he did a great job.

“At one stage in selection I was going to play him at 13. He said to me after the game he was pretty happy he didn’t have to play 13 because it was pretty rugged in the middle.

“He did a fantastic job as a centre and then back at full-back to cover Jake Connor. It’s not easy to do those things.”