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Recent monstrous tackles confirm Fekitoa's reputation as Wasps midfielder to be feared
Dai Young is backing World Cup-winning centre Malakai Fekitoa to unleash his “monstrous” tackling on Northampton on Sunday and deliver another performance to confirm his reputation as a midfield force to be feared in Gallagher Premiership.
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Fekitoa has taken time to find his form after joining Wasps from Toulon in the summer but he was central to the team’s morale-boosting 26-21 victory over Bristol at Ashton Gate last weekend.
A member of the All Black 2015 World Cup-winning squad, Fekitoa won 24 caps before heading to France and has was added to the Wasps backline to give them some added midfield physicality – something they lack without the 27-year-old in the line-up.
Director of rugby Young now wants to see Fekitoa deliver more of his impressive ball-carrying and tackling against second-placed Northampton, whose defence was repeatedly opened up by Gloucester a week ago.
Young told RugbyPass: “We knew about the physicality he brings and in fairness to Malakai he is getting better with every game. Like any player coming into a new team, it takes time to settle although being in Toulon for two years makes it a little easier.
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RugbyPass travelled to Brecon to see how life after rugby is treating former Wasps player Andy Powell
“However, you still have to get used to the defensive and attacking patterns. He is starting to show the potential and quality that we know he possesses. He wasn’t fully fit in his first couple of games for us because he was carrying a bit of a knock into pre-season and now he is looking sharper.
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“He gives us something we don’t have in the rest of our backline because we have a lot of nice players but lack that physicality. Malakai has given us that and in the last two or three games he has come up with some monstrous tackles which gets everyone up.
“With his ball carries he never fails to beat the first guy which puts you on the front foot and opens up space for others to exploit. It is also important that he is getting more and more comfortable off the pitch because he is a quiet guy.
‘Scotland have got to win some away games in the Six Nations… psychologically, we have got to be more resilient when things don’t go well’
– Ex-assistant Matt Taylor on what next for Scotland ahead of his departure for the Wallabies. @JLyall93 reports ?https://t.co/9vmtXfUliI— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 3, 2020
“He is now speaking more and offering opinions. When you sign a player with his kind of experience you are hoping he brings other things with him besides his play so that others can learn and feed off. We are pleased with him but don’t think we have yet seen the best of Malakai. There is more to come.”
Young is also predicting Fekitoa will forge an increasingly dangerous double act with fellow All Black Lima Sopoaga once the out-half recovers from his recent illness. “Malakai’s arrival has already impacted on Lima who has been really unlucky in the last couple of weeks with a chest and throat infection.
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“Before his illness, I thought he was looking like a different player and starting to play with confidence and a smile on his face. Malakai helps this because they used to play together. I am sure we will see that partnership really start to flourish.”
“PRO14 rugby is much more exciting than Premiership rugby, has been for years."
– Michael Bradley talks Prem v PRO14 with @heagneyl ???https://t.co/iTlvoOlb8y
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 29, 2019
Young missed Nizaam Carr’s last-gasp try which gave Wasps the win at Bristol because he was in a lift travelling down to the dressing room level from his place in the stand. “We have got hold of that lucky lift and installed it in the Ricoh Arena,” he joked.
“You can score points against Northampton and open them up in midfield, but we know they are a dangerous side.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
Wow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
1 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
12 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
1 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
1 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
4 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
16 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
16 Go to commentsNZ rugby seem not to have learnt anything from professional rugby. Super rugby was dying and SA left before they died with the competition. SA rugby did a u turn on their approach to international players playing overseas and such players are now selected for Bok teams. As much as each country would love to retain their players playing in local competitions, this is the way the world is evolving my friends. Move with it or stay 20 years behind the times. One more thing. NZ rugby hierarchy think they are the big cheese. Take a more humble approach guys. You do not seem to have your players best interests at heart.
3 Go to commentsBeaches? In Cardiff? Where?
1 Go to commentsHe is right , the Crusaders will be a threat. Scott Barrett, ( particularly), Fergus Burke , Codie Taylor, ( from sabbatical) etc due back soon for the Crusaders. There are others like Zach Gallagher too. People can right the Crusaders off, Top 8 , here we come !!
1 Go to commentsWe will always struggle for money to match the other sides but the least the WRU can do is invest properly in Welsh rugby. Too much has been squandered on vanity projects like the hotel and roof walk amongst others which will never see a massive return. Hanging the 4 pro sides out to dry over the last decade is now coming back to bite the WRU financially as well as on the pitch. You reap what you sow.
1 Go to commentsWhat do you get if you cross a doctor with a fish? A plastic sturgeon
14 Go to commentsWhat happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
3 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
4 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
3 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
16 Go to comments