Fiji targeting England age grade star Nordli-Kelemeti
Fiji are trying to convince promising Newcastle Falcons scrumhalf Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti to opt-out of the England system and boost their halfback options heading into the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
The Fijian born scrumhalf moved to North Yorkshire on a scholarship from Suva to Terrington Hall Prep School designed to give opportunities overseas to talented players and was picked up by Falcons following a junior career with Malton & Norton RFC which produced Wales prop Tomas Francis and Exeter Chiefs lock Will Witty, who started his professional career with the Newcastle club.
Nordli-Kelemeti, 22-years-old, was promoted to the Falcons’ senior academy in 2018 having represented England Under-18s and England sevens in the Junior Commonwealth Games in 2017. Nordli-Kelemeti spent last season on loan to Championship club Jersey before returning to Kingston Park and has been give a run of games due to a scrumhalf injury crisis affecting South African Louis Schreuder, who will join Bath next season, veteran Micky Young and Sam Stuart.
Dean Richards, the Falcons director or rugby, revealed Fiji had made contact about his young scrumhalf who has formed an effective halfback combination during the injury crisis with Will Haydon-Wood, the former Sedbergh School outside half who was in the same first XV as Scotland centre Cameron Redpath.
Richards told RugbyPass: “Cam has started far more games than he thought he would have this season and has improved the exposure he has received in that period of time. As a result, he is a far more confident and different player from the start of the season. Fiji have been communicating with us about Cam and the big question is if he wants to play for Fiji or gets the chance to play for an England side because he has English Qualified Player (EPQ) status.
“He has a great skills set and has worked incredibly hard on his scrumhalf position skills and has been given the opportunity of late and it is amazing how quickly players develop.”
Richards is able to be involved with the team on match days having completed his three-game ban after criticising the referee following the defeat last month by Exeter. Richards took the opportunity to stand amongst the Kingston Park fans during his ban and said: “It has been really interesting to hear the spectators’ perspective on things and what they look for. It is very rare that anyone from a rugby club board or the coaching team will sit amongst the crowd and it has been fascinating to discover how informed supporters are and how quickly they get to the right decision.
“It has been good for the guys to do things in a different way on match days and has it impacted on results? You don’t know, but it has been good from other people’s perspectives.
“The fans are keeping the faith and they appreciate we have played some really tough games against teams like Saracens while we have had injury concerns in the squad and also disruptions caused by the pandemic. There have been very different issues but now we are back playing regularly and Will Haydon-Wood is a player who is willing to learn and has a long way to go and it has been good watching him develop this season.”
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments