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Bay of Plenty speedster Emoni Narawa shifts from Blues to Chiefs

Emoni Narawa. (Photo by Dave Rowland/Getty Images)

Chiefs head coach Clayton McMillan lamented the fact that none of his wing options had stamped their mark in their jerseys last season but the arrival of former Blues outside back Emoni Narawa could change that.

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22-year-old Narawa has notched up seven appearances for the Blues throughout his two seasons with the club but has made the decision to head south and link up with McMillan, his former coach at the Steamers.

“I am really excited, coming into a new environment,” Narawa said. “Hopefully I can come in and put on the jersey and put my best foot forward.

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The panel of Ross Karl, Bryn Hall and James Parsons run their eyes over all the developments from the past week of rugby.

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The panel of Ross Karl, Bryn Hall and James Parsons run their eyes over all the developments from the past week of rugby.

“The culture at the Gallagher Chiefs has a pretty good reputation, so I am looking forward to that. I have worked with Clayton at the Bay and I love his style of footy and I am excited about working with him.”

The Fijian-born speedster was one of the top performers from the 2019 provincial season, which saw him snapped up by Leon MacDonald at the Blues.

Injuries halted his progress at Super Rugby level but the 22-year-old was still able to put in some memorable performances off the bench for the Auckland-based franchise.

With the Blues boasting deep outside back stocks, including the likes of Caleb Clarke, Mark Telea, Rieko Ioane, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Zarn Sullivan and Stephen Perofeta, Narawa will find it easier navigating his way into a starting spot for the Chiefs – especially given his ability to cover both wing and fullback.

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“Emoni is an exciting utility back who has been a key contributor for Bay of Plenty over the past couple of seasons,” said McMillan of his new signing. “He is blessed with an array of skills, and we believe our environment will give Emoni the confidence and freedom to showcase his talent. Above all he is a good young man who is highly motivated to contribute and take his game to another level.”

Narawa will be competing with the likes of Shaun Stevenson and Etene Nanai-Seturo for a spot on the wing while Damian McKenzie’s shift to Japan also opens up a spot in the No 15 jersey – although McMillan may opt for one of Kaleb Trask or Josh Ioane to take on those duties.

“It’s probably fair to say that the area where we’ve had the biggest scope to have movement in our squad has been in and around our outside backs,” McMillan told RugbyPass earlier this year regarding the upcoming 2022 season.

“We had lots of guys that were more than adequate that did a great job for us, they’re safe, and what we’re just looking for is people who can potentially bring a little more influence through their performance and the way that they play. We’ve achieved that somewhat [through recruitment for 2022]. We’re happy with what we’ve got now.”

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The Chiefs will name their full squad on Monday 22 November.

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fl 59 minutes ago
‘Props are awesome…so why don’t they win prizes?’

“The reason most props don’t last the whole game is that they expend proportionally more effort than players outside the front row. Should they be penalised for that?”

No, they don’t last the whole game because they are less fit than players outside the front row. I’d be interested to know if you’d apply this logic to other positions; do PSDT and Itoje regularly last longer than other players in their positions because they put in less effort?

None of this is about “penalising” props, its about being realistic about their impact on a game.


“While scrums are a small part of the game in terms of time spent in them, they have disproportionate impact. Dominant scrums win games; feeble ones lose them.”

Strength at the breakdown wins games. Good kicking wins games. Good handling wins games. Strong defence wins games. Good lineouts win games. Ultimately, I think that of all these things, the scrum is probably the least important, because it demonstrably doesn’t correlate very well with winning games. I don’t think Rugbypass will allow me to link articles, but if you google “HG Rugby Crowning the Best Scrum in Club Rugby” you’ll get a pretty convincing analysis that ranks Toulouse and Bordeaux outside of the 10 best club sides in the scrum - and ranks Leinster outside of the top 30.


“Or there’s Joe Marler’s epic performance in the Bristol v Quins 2021 Premiership Semi-Final, in which he finally left the pitch 15 minutes into extra time having signed off with a try saving tackle.”

Yeah - that’s a good example actually, but it kind of disproves your point. Marler played 95 minutes, which is unheard of for a prop.


“Maybe we need a dedicated Hall of Fame with entry only for props, and voted for only by props.”

Well we have the World Rugby XV of the year. Its only been going for a few years, but in time it’ll be a pretty good record of who are perceived as best props - although the lack of interest most people have in scrums means that perception of who the best props are doesn’t always match reality (e.g. Tadgh Furlong was great in 2018 - but was he really the best tighthead in the world in 2021, 2022, & 2023?).

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