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Nakarawa poised for Scotstoun comeback 46 months after he last played at home for Glasgow

By Online Editors
(Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images)

Leone Nakarawa will pull on a Glasgow kit at home for the first time since sealing his Scotstoun return when Warriors host Zebre on Friday night.

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The Fijian second row rejoined the club last month after being sacked by Racing 92 and he appeared at Sale in the Heineken Champions Cup. However, it was April 2016 when he last wore the Glasgow shirt at Scotstoun – in a PRO12 game versus Zebre – before switching to the Parisians and the Top 14 scene.

There is no sign of a resolution to the legal situation between Racing and the ousted Nakarara, who was first laid off on November 12 and then dismissed outright on December 6 by club president Jacky Lorenzetti for returning 16 days late from a post-World Cup holiday.

A conciliation hearing was due to take place this week but was delayed due to a lawyers’ strike in France. Nakararwa had a season and a half remaining in his contract when he was let go and it is believed he is claiming compensation in the region of between €600,000 and €800,000 from Racing.

For Friday night’s return he will be joined in Dave Rennie’s line-up by scrum-half George Horne, hooker George Turner and back rows Tom Gordon and Matt Fagerson after they were released from training with the Scotland squad to take on Italy, while Kyle Steyn is on the bench.

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Rennie’s team are returning to action after a three-week break and the head coach is now hoping to see his side kick on as they look to rescue their Guinness PRO14 play-off ambitions. “The boys are in good shape,” he said. “They have come back in after a bit of a break and we’ve prepared well.

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“We’ve played really well over the last few matches, so it’s good to have them freshened up physically and mentally. We’ve got a good side going out there, including five players back from Scotland camp. They’ve slotted back in seamlessly as you’d expect – they’re guys that have played a lot of rugby for us over the last few months.”

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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