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Glasgow Warriors star would 'love' for arrival of former teammate Leone Nakarawa by the New Year
Glasgow Warriors won’t welcome the return of Fiji star Leone Nakarawa by Christmas, but the club’s co-captain Ryan Wilson is hopeful the prominent second rower will return by the New Year.
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Talk of a move back to Scotstoun has been prominent since Nakarawa was axed by Top 14 side Racing 92 after he reported two weeks late back for club duties following the World Cup in Japan.
The 31-year-old left for the Paris-based outfit in 2016 after making a name for himself with the Warriors, of whom he made 69 appearances since his debut in 2013 and won a PRO12 title with two years later.
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Wilson was also at the forefront of Glasgow’s championship success four years ago, and the Scotland international said he would love nothing more than for his old teammate to return to Scotland as they chase a place in both the PRO14 and Champions Cup knockout stages.
“He’s not coming around for Christmas. He’s away in Fiji at the moment I think. He’s been in touch, I speak to him quite a bit,” Wilson said, according to The Scotsman.
“I’d love to enjoy New Year with him. I’d love more than anything for Leone to come to Glasgow. It would mean everything to the club to have a player like that back here. That would be incredible because he is such an amazing player and a good man as well.”
As it stands at the halfway stage of the season, Glasgow sit two points outside of a play-off berth in their conference in the PRO14, while they remain in firm competition with the likes of Northampton, Munster and Gloucester for a place in the Champions Cup quarter-finals.
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The acquisition of Nakarawa would significantly bolster their chances of sending outgoing head coach Dave Rennie off to the Wallabies with some silverware, but they have had to fight with clubs from around the world for the Olympic gold medallist’s services.
Sydney-based Super Rugby franchise the Waratahs, embattled Premiership side Wasps and Top 14 play-off contenders Bayonne have all reportedly been interested in the 1.98m, 104kg lock in recent weeks.
Early Premiership contenders Sale Sharks had also previously shown their interest in Nakarawa before dropping out of the race nearly a fortnight ago.
However, a statement released by Bayonne earlier this month indicated that Nakarawa had voiced his intent on re-joining Glasgow, making the Warriors leading contenders to attain the 62-test international’s signature.
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A return by the New Year could make Nakarawa available for Glasgow’s opening clash of 2020 against Treviso at the Stadio Comunale di Monigo on January 4, but that means he would miss the Warriors’ 1872 Cup derby match against Edinburgh this Saturday.
Rennie’s side overcame their Scottish rivals in a 20-16 home victory over the weekend, and with the return fixture at Murrayfield just five days away, there is plenty to play for in the absence of Nakarawa.
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“We wanted an 80-minute performance. In patches we didn’t get it but, for most of it, there was a lot of brutality out there. We are pleased with that,” Wilson told The Scotsman of his side’s win.
“This week we spoke about how important it was, not only for our league but because we didn’t do very well in the 1872 Cup last season and we wanted to make amends for that.”
After back-to-back defeats in front of a home crowd at the hands of Leinster and La Rochelle in both domestic and continental competitions, Wilson was confident Saturday’s success will empower his side of delivering again in the Scottish capital this week.
“We had two losses at home in a row, which is not good enough at all by our standards. I think we will take a massive confidence boost from this game and then use it against them when we go to Murrayfield,” he said.
“It was a bit scrappy [at the weekend], not helped by five yellow cards. But you grind them out and probably feel better after games like those than when you’ve run away with it.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
Pick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
15 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
4 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
15 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
15 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
15 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
15 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
15 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
15 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to comments