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United Rugby Championship

Munster sign former Leinster star ahead of Champions Cup


DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - NOVEMBER 18: Michael Alaalatoa of Samoa preforms the Siva Tau prior to the Men's Rugby World Cup 2027 Final Qualification Tournament match between Samoa and Belgium at The Sevens Stadium on November 18, 2025 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Christopher Pike - World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images)
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Fresh from securing his country’s place at the next Rugby World Cup, it has been announced that Samoan prop Michael Ala’alatoa will be joining Munster from Clermont Auvergne on 1 December.

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The Australia-born 34-year-old has signed until the end of the season and will arrive in Ireland five days before Munster begin their Investec Champions Cup campaign against Gallagher PREM champions Bath, at The Rec, on 6 December.

Ala’alatoa has won 26 caps for Samoa, most recently in the 13-13 draw with Belgium that saw Islanders qualify for a 10th Rugby World Cup tournament on Tuesday.

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The tight-head made his Super Rugby debut for the Waratahs in 2014 before moving to the Crusaders in 2016, winning three Super Rugby titles and two Super Rugby Aotearoa Championships.

It will be his second spell in Ireland having scored six tries in 62 appearances for Leinster between 2021 and 2024.

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Samoa survive huge scare from Belgium to qualify for RWC 2027

After a tremendous battle in Dubai, Samoa have made it through to Rugby World Cup 2027.

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Comments on RugbyPass

u
unknown 11 minutes ago
World Rugby announce new crackdown on two dangerous tackles

The Fijians play rugby as it should be played . Hard , fast and expansive . Most referees cruel them .

The mantra is ‘ Rugby is a contest for the ball ‘ . That apparently only applies on tacked. Ball . Scrums go with the feed generally . Line outs throws are not straight . Mauls favour the side in possession .



...

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OtagomanII 14 minutes ago
Beauden Barrett back in starting All Blacks team to play the Wallabies at Eden Park

Awful in particular Holland. Very conservative in the backline not having Tavatavanawai and Jacomb on the bench.

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A
Andrew Nichols 26 minutes ago
Former All Blacks trio headline Samoa’s squad for November Nations Cup

Funny how fielding all these Kiwis never gets commented upon but when they get picked for the.ABs we get accused of poaching.

1 Go to comments
S
SB 26 minutes ago
Beauden Barrett back in starting All Blacks team to play the Wallabies at Eden Park

Talk about back to the future . . .

10 Go to comments
s
sb 29 minutes ago
Beauden Barrett back in starting All Blacks team to play the Wallabies at Eden Park

Let’s hope Dmac doesn’t throw away a hat trick of second half tries again this time.

10 Go to comments
B
Bruiser 29 minutes ago
Beauden Barrett back in starting All Blacks team to play the Wallabies at Eden Park

What am I missing with Holland non selection???? Is it scrum power having Barrett there? Maybe Holland has been told to bulk up?

10 Go to comments
u
unknown 29 minutes ago
World Rugby announce new crackdown on two dangerous tackles

Carter Gordon will be in bother . Donaldson also tries to throw his legs in front of players without much success .

11 Go to comments
u
unknown 34 minutes ago
Beauden Barrett back in starting All Blacks team to play the Wallabies at Eden Park

One too many Barretts I reckon !

10 Go to comments
K
KiwiJohn 34 minutes ago
Beauden Barrett back in starting All Blacks team to play the Wallabies at Eden Park

No Holland or Blackadder?

Any thoughts?



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s
sb 48 minutes ago
Hilux NPC scores big wins in 2026 match attendance and social media engagement

With some interesting commentators

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U
Utiku Old Boy 1 hour ago
All Blacks injury list continues to grow with double whammy before Wallabies

Correct.

31 Go to comments
U
Utiku Old Boy 1 hour ago
All Blacks injury list continues to grow with double whammy before Wallabies

Sadly right SC.

31 Go to comments
U
Utiku Old Boy 1 hour ago
All Blacks injury list continues to grow with double whammy before Wallabies

In fact, they seem wed to the catching-backwards concept despite it’s obvious failings. Fihaki and Taumoefolau are good under the high ball and in addition to the flawed concept, current personnel seem to lack the skills.

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GS 1 hour ago
Beauden Barrett back in starting All Blacks team to play the Wallabies at Eden Park

Not much trust in Jacomb - but then he didn’t command the 10 jersey at the Chiefs and to get serious gametime, has had to go to the Highlanders.

So if he can’t be trusted by Chiefs coaches, guess AB coaches maybe have similiar concerns?



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Locke 1 hour ago
All Blacks injury list continues to grow with double whammy before Wallabies

Perplexed by the exclusion of Narawa.

He reminds me of Cory Jane: not an out-and-out speedster, but a highly skilled, ball-playing winger who thrives on deception, vision, and footballing intelligence. He offers something different from the pure pace merchants, yet can be just as effective.



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GS 1 hour ago
Beauden Barrett back in starting All Blacks team to play the Wallabies at Eden Park

Interesting team to say the least, not sure when Beauden B last playing more than 20 minutes at Super/Test level, so interesting selection - guess Moorby is on the bench to cover him if he runs out of gas.

No fan of non tackling wingers, so shake my head around Carter’s selection, though at least he is a great attacker though just know that the Wallabies will be looking at isolating him in defence and getting him one on one defending.



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NucK 1 hour ago
Beauden Barrett back in starting All Blacks team to play the Wallabies at Eden Park

Can't shake BB. Terrible team

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Utiku Old Boy 1 hour ago
Beauden Barrett back in starting All Blacks team to play the Wallabies at Eden Park

Not sure the team trajectory is right despite all the injuries. Jacomb is not getting any development with this set-up. Rennie seems to be following the same path as others with the BB fandom. Carter and Moorby have not stepped up to elite level and could be exposed again. Taumoefolau should be in there and Fihaki has more upside than the two chosen IMO. Tosi has struggled at set piece against quality internationals but Lomax has been off the pace. Wallabies have been firing pretty well but this will likely be a closely run match-up.

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David Laurenson 1 hour ago
Has the balance between attack and defence become too lopsided?

I and the many others could not disagree more. The score lines are reflective of mainly the ability of the more dominate team, on the day. Forward tries by crash n bash, The illegal mauls, where players are ahead of the ball carrier are an easy score. The one area where the offence team is king though is the Maul !The defensive capabilities to stop a maul are nil, it used to be that all players were not offside as long as they had contact with another player. This was mandatory whether or not you were at the sides or in fact anywhere in the meelay. Now you have to retreat on the refs call to the back, you can’t even tackle the ball carrier, as you then get penalized for collapsing the maul. ALL the advantage is with the offensive side, Mauls are a freeby ! The structure that favors forward participation is predicable and boring. Backs have had to become forwards ! Line speed has totally killed off, running play. To qualify the offside laws have not or seldom been altered since rugby went professional. No compensation has been made for these elite athletes of today, meaning LESS time and SPACE to find a gap. Our game is compressed. We see all games where the pass is made and the receiver getting cleaned out. What does this tell us ? As coaches you have designed a bar the door screen of players, we have pods of forwards, hitting up with intent yet hardly making the gain line, time and time again. with phase play in the thirties. Backs are now used as forwards to hit it up and hopefully retain possession from the tackled ball or ruck. If you diagnosed our game with mathematicians and engineers, they would come up with two causes. Either you have less players, or you enlarge the field of play. Of course this would not be entertained, so the obvious solution is to add a metre to all the current off side laws. WHY to give a little time and space for the offensive team to attack, that’s right the opposite to what we have just read, but for both sides this would allow some freedom for backs to be backs, less kicking, less forward interference, we may even get our game back as it would be more enjoyable to play, to follow, to ref, fans could actually view tactics in motion as against the current predictability. Compression is negative, a little separation freedom.

6 Go to comments
T
Tah Man Too 2 hours ago
All Blacks injury list continues to grow with double whammy before Wallabies

dmac to 10 with Jordan to 15?

31 Go to comments
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