Exodus 2018
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Confirmed: Tim Nanai-Williams has signed a 3-year contract with Clermont. He'll join the squad at the end of the 2018 Super Rugby season.
http://www.asm-rugby.com/actus/tim-nanai-williams-s’engage-pour-3-saisons
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According to today's Midi Olympique (Midol), Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal wants to part ways with a number of players, including Ma'a Nonu and former Springboks Duane Vermeulen and Marcel Van der Merwe. Guess who - according to Midol - they want to replace Vermeulen with? Jerome Kaino! Midol claims that there has already been contact between the two parties for more than a month.
Wait and see. Midol has been wrong before and Boudjellal doesn't always get what he wants. However, Kaino comes off contract in 2018.
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@stargazer as much as I love Jerome he has run his race. Good luck in Toulon. Always grateful for 2011.
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@booboo said in Exodus 2018:
@stargazer as much as I love Jerome he has run his race. Good luck in Toulon. Always grateful for 2011.
P.S. the very best ever looseforward trio I have ever seen was the 2010 version of Kaino - McCaw - Read...
Better than Whetton-Jones-Shelford. Better than Hill-Back-Dallaglio. Better than Poidevin-Roache- whoever. Better than Shaw-Mourie-Mexted. Better than any saffer trio which would have included Smith and Schalk Burger in the same 3.
They were awesome.
So awesome I was convinced we could win with two of the three.
... then we lost Kieran ...
... then Richie broke his foot ... then broke his foot ... then broke his foot ...
... thank god for Jerome ... my favourite player this century. -
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@raznomore said in Exodus 2018:
I remember seeing ti live with a bunch of people and noone else seemed to notice he'd just picked up Ioane in full flight in what should have been a try scoring run.
I had a great view of that tackle from the West stand.
My other memory was watching McCabe change his running line so he was smashed in a tackle by an AB (Read I think). It was hillarious to see.
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@taniwharugby what do you think ?
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@jauzy019 I don't watch much French rugby, but based on some isolated incidents on the other side of the channel along with another on the Lions tour (although SBW was missed by our med team) I was just asking the question given we appear to have more players miss rugby due to concussion issues than others.
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Waikato and Tonga LH prop Latu Talakai and lock/loosie Leva Fifita have temporarily joined French Pro D2 club Grenoble as injury cover.
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@tim said in Exodus 2018:
It's a bit sad what has happened to SH rugby - I watched a good deal of European rugby over the weekend, and a recurring theme was how many SH players featured.
If I take Clermont vs Saracens for example, we have Flip Van Der Merwe, Fritz Lee, Isaia Toeva, Peter Betham, Vincent Koch, Will Skelton, Marcelo Bosch, Sean Maitland, Juan Figallo, Schalk Burger.
The Montpellier backline, we have Aaron Cruden, Jan Serfontein, Francois Steyn, Nemani Nadolo, Jesse Mogg.
And so on.
I really hope Super Rugby is a better standard this year, because outside of the NZ teams, my interest has seriously waned. European Club Rugby is a good deal better than previously, not in the least due to the number of big name SH stars on offer.
It'd be a bit annoying with Moala too - NZRU helped out no end with his assault charge I imagine, gave him a 2nd chance. His form has fallen away a bit, but he would still have something to offer the Blues.
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@billy-tell said in Exodus 2018:
@tim said in Exodus 2018:
It's a bit sad what has happened to SH rugby - I watched a good deal of European rugby over the weekend, and a recurring theme was how many SH players featured.
If I take Clermont vs Saracens for example, we have Flip Van Der Merwe, Fritz Lee, Isaia Toeva, Peter Betham, Vincent Koch, Will Skelton, Marcelo Bosch, Sean Maitland, Juan Figallo, Schalk Burger.
The Montpellier backline, we have Aaron Cruden, Jan Serfontein, Francois Steyn, Nemani Nadolo, Jesse Mogg.
And so on.
I really hope Super Rugby is a better standard this year, because outside of the NZ teams, my interest has seriously waned. European Club Rugby is a good deal better than previously, not in the least due to the number of big name SH stars on offer.
It'd be a bit annoying with Moala too - NZRU helped out no end with his assault charge I imagine, gave him a 2nd chance. His form has fallen away a bit, but he would still have something to offer the Blues.
How he didn't get some kind of conviction for that is totally fucked.
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As a Blues fan i'm happy to see him go and make hay overseas.
He doesn't really fit in the future plans for the Blues - he simply doesnt have the distribution to play midfield and doesnt have the speed to play on the wing - good player that I think could actually suit the NH game more as it suits the strengths of his game. Good player who has served the Blues well but I think he's reached his peak in NZ.
This actually could be a positive in that the Blues don't feel like they have to shoe-horn him into midfield just because he was an AB. I'd rather see Blues give midfield gametime to proper midfielders (midfield being an area of weakness for the Blues for a long time).
As for his assault charge i'm not going to make a sweeping statement without knowing the ins and outs of the case.
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Moala's done a good dash here. He turns 28 next year and he'd of done 8 years as a pro here by the time he leaves, so he's not some young player who is leaving after just a few years. I think he's leaving at just the right time, as he seems to have stalled a bit and his market value will probably just decrease the longer he stays.
I do wonder if he can crack the starting backline for Clermont though, because they are pretty loaded in the backs department. The midfielders and wingers they currently have might be better than him at the moment, so a starting spot might not be guaranteed for him, but it might not matter so much, as seasons are so long over there, everyone in the squad seems to get a good run of playing time by the end of the season.
Deux internationaux tongiens rejoignent le FCG
