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London Irish sign Samoa winger on short-term deal


Samoa's Belgium Tuatagaloa in action against Australia.
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Big-spending London Irish have confirmed the signature of Samoa winger Belgium Tuatagaloa on a short-term deal.

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Tuatagoloa, 30, has played provincial rugby in New Zealand for Wellington and Canterbury and has represented Samoa at international level.

A promising boxer during his Teens, Tuatagoloa had to give up the sport as a result of persistent migraines. During the summer he revealed that he turned down a contract offer in France in order to represent Samoa at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

He has also played sevens rugby for both Samoa and New Zealand.

London Irish director of rugby, Declan Kidney said: “Belgium is a good addition to our squad and will get his chance to wear the London Irish jersey for the first time in the Premiership Rugby Shield fixture against Harlequins this evening.”

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Phantom 1 hour ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



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