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'It will be interesting to see who goes back': Nemani Nadolo on Fijian Drua's Super Rugby invite and whether he might join up
Leicester winger Nemani Nadolo has hailed next year’s arrival of Fijian Drua into Super Rugby but the 33-year-old believes he is too old to head to the island and play a part in the franchise’s debut season mixing it with the best teams that New Zealand and Australia have to offer.
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Having moved from France to England in 2020, Nadolo ended his Test level retirement when playing for the Fiji national team in their December Nations Cup win over Georgia at Murrayfield. That was his first appearance at that level for two-and-a-half years and he went on to score a try hat-trick.
However, while he is an enthusiastic supporter of club side Drua gaining recent inclusion in next year’s revised Super Rugby structure, Nadolo doesn’t feel it would be right if he sought to play in a tournament he last featured in with the Crusaders in 2016.
“No,” he said when asked if he was a potential recruit for the Fijian Super Rugby franchise. “I have thought about it but for me, that’s not my time or place. It’s time for those young guys to make their mark. I don’t want to be that guy that is taking the spot of a young kid from the village who potentially could go on and do great things. After this [Leicester], I will be one of those spectators on the sideline.
“Super Rugby, they play really quick over there,” he added. “I’m not saying it’s not quick here but I have done my time in the Super Rugby arena and I want to finish well here in the Premiership.”
This is a great day for rugby as a whole!!. Knowing the next generation of talent coming from the islands don’t have to look overseas “1st”to play professional rugby. Congratulations and thank you to all involved. #Vinaka #malopAupito #faafetai ?? ?? ?? ?? pic.twitter.com/2GJlDqsgrj
— nemzy (@nemani_nadolo) April 14, 2021
Nadolo, who penned an extension to his Leicester contract on March 8 for the 2021/22 season in England, doesn’t believe the new Super Rugby Drua team will automatically stop the frequent flow of talent from Fiji. Until recent weeks, the dream for youngsters on the island had only been to get contracted abroad or pick up a school scholarship.
However, the Drua will now in time become an inspiration for local talent to aspire to represent. “I don’t think it is going to stop the influx of players,” he admitted. “Fiji, our biggest export is rugby players so we are always going to have guys come overseas. It’s a no-brainer but this is going to give guys a lot to look forward to.
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“A lot of the kids there grow up wanting to play overseas. Their first thing is ‘I want to go play in France’ or ‘I want to go play in England, I want to get a schools scholarship’. With the Drua being there they have got an opportunity, they have something to look forward to.
“We have needed a professional team on the island and it is going to be great for them. These young kids coming through, there is so much raw talent that gets untapped. Fiji rugby are working really hard to make sure they can keep their best players on the island. It will be interesting to see who comes back, who goes back. They are going to have to mix it with the local guys there.
“It’s something that we have been crying out for and we have finally got the opportunity,” he continued. “It’s going to be great for the local guys on the island, it gives them an opportunity to play professionally on the island rather than having to come to this side of the world or New Zealand or Australia.
“It’s going to benefit the national side three, four years down the track. I’m pretty pumped about it and they will hopefully do well. I look at it as the Jaguares of Argentina. Japan as well, they had the Sunwolves. Their national teams benefitted massively and you can see that in the World Cups and all those big games.”
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The 20-year-old 6ft 6in back row is English-qualified#GallagherPrem
https://t.co/4Hawe7RudS— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 8, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
29 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
29 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
29 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
29 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick 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.
29 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?
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