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London Irish land All Black Naholo in shock coup for club

By Ian Cameron
Seta Tamanivalu and Waisake Naholo

Fresh after officially confirming the signing of British and Irish Lions backrow Sean O’Brien, and London Irish have landed another huge name.

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Two weeks after first reporting the possibility of the mega-move, RugbyPass now understands that All Black Waisike Naholo has signed for the Reading-based club and that it will be officially confirmed in coming weeks.

Irish beat Wasps to the Highlander’s signature, in what is the latest addition to a growing raft of big name international talent switching to the club.

The Declan Kidney coached side have confirmed the signing of Wallabies Nick Phipps and Curtis Rona, as well as Scottish loosehead Allan Dell.

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Currently ranked as the fourth best left wing in the world by the RugbyPass Index – Naholo has slipped down the All Blacks wing pecking order and his inclusion on the World Cup squad is very much in question.

Despite doing little wrong in an All Black jersey, critics of the Fijian born wing have pointed at a less rounded game than the likes of Nehe Milner-Skudder, Damien McKenzie, Jordie Barrett, Ben Smith and Rieko Ioane.

Naholo comes to the club as a confirmed try scorer and at 27 – is still in his prime.

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However, it’s not all been plain sailing for Irish, as the club are still to confirm their engine room. RugbyPass understands that Adam Coleman remains top of the wishlist, but that a deal to sign Tongan utility forward Steve Mafi has fallen through.

If the deal to sign Mafi has indeed fallen through, it will leave a considerable amount in the warchest to land the 6’8, 122kg Wallaby.

London Irish are set to bounce back up into the Premiership after a year in the Championship, and in the midst of serious rebuild – a rebuild that is being largely funded by the club’s share of the Premiership Rugby’s £200million minority stake sale to CVC Capital Partners.

London Irish confirmed in December that it would leave Reading after 18 years playing at the Madejski Stadium.

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The Madejski is around 30 miles away from its state-of-the-art training base in Sunbury and a move back to London had been on the cards.

The club confirmed they will be playing in London at the new Brentford Community Stadium from the start of the 2020/21 season.

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Bull Shark 40 minutes ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

Of the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.

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