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Bristol statement: The signing of Viliame Mata
By Liam Heagney
Pat Lam’s Bristol have won the race to recruit Fiji No8 Viliame Mata for next season. The Pacific Islander is currently playing his eighth season with Edinburgh in the URC, but he is now a confirmed signing for the Gallager Premiership.
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A statement read: “Fijian back row sensation Viliame ‘Bill’ Mata will join Bristol Bears from Edinburgh ahead of the 2024/25 season. The 32-year-old, one of the game’s most exciting superstars, was a standout player at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, scoring against England in the quarter-final.
“Mata, who stands at 6ft 5ins and weighs in at 125kg, was nominated for EPCR player of the year and named Guinness PRO14 players’ player of the year in 2018/19 and won Olympic Gold with Fiji at Rio 2016.
“Big Bill has made more than 100 appearances for Edinburgh, becoming the first non-Scottish qualified player to become a club centurion.”
Bristol director of Rugby Lam, said: “Viliame is one of the most powerful and exciting back row players in the game, so we are delighted to be bolstering our forward pack with a player of his world-class calibre next season.
Only a Mata of time ?? pic.twitter.com/Omkszbw3Y8
— Bristol Bears ? (@BristolBears) January 2, 2024
“While he is destructive and brings gain line on both sides of the ball, he also possesses the passing/offloading skills and experience that will add real value to our team.
“His performances as a centurion for Edinburgh and at the recent Rugby World Cup in France for Fiji showcased his experience and ability at the top level. We are pleased to be bringing him to the Bears and the Premiership next season.”
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Mata added: “I’m truly grateful for the opportunity to be part of the Bristol Bears next season. I’m excited for the challenge of playing for a different team, in a different environment and a different league.”
The Pat Lam charitable retirement home for ageing Pacific Islanders. With a nice sideline in buying up props then stalling all their scrummaging ability to cost England RWC’s. When relegation is re-introduced they can vie with Newcastle for the trapdoor. And all on Stephen Lansdown’s chequebook.
I'm a Bristolian and I mostly feel the same sadly. The thing which frustrates me isn't that Bristol aren't playing well it's that they've shown no signs of attempting to change their approach. They continue to play a team of skinny championship players from Ealing/Jersey with a load of presumably overpaid Islanders. It's not going to work. We got away with it when we had Piutau in his prime, Radrada and Ben Earl but the big names we have now aren't enough to make up the shortcomings. A mix of powerful islanders and skinny Englishmen doesn't make a prem side. We need some grunts to add some ballast.
Great player but Bristol already have a lot of explosive power players. They really lack ballast. They have a lot of lightweight players and the heavy guys are mostly power guys like Genge, Sinckler, Vakatawa. They need some big gnarly grunts to glue it together. Mata would be a great signing for any other team but Bristol keep spending big on the type of player they already have.
Their young grunts went to Sale nearly 2 years ago, Bamber and Groves, both 6ft 9inches and over 120kg., 22—23 years old. Maybe not fully ready when they left, but they could have been what’s really needed now, weight and height for the scrum and lineout. With regards Bill Mata, it is a very good signing, he will give some extra ballast, as long as he really pushes in the scrum, but where does that leave Magnus Bradbury. I do agree with Tom that Bristol has spent a lot of money on a small upgrade in the back row, where they really need the tall heavyweight second row.