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Fissler Confidential: Bears' fight to keep LRZ, England star on the move
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The 2 Premiership clubs targeting ex-All Black Hoskins Sotutu
By Neil Fissler
Hoskins Sotutu is on the radar of Gallagher Premiership giants Saracens and Leicester Tigers after speaking to England coach Steve Borthwick about switching his international allegiance from the All Blacks.
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The 2024 Super Rugby Pacific player of the year, who won the last of his 14 Test caps against England at Twickenham in November 2022, recently turned down the chance of an All Blacks recall for their autumn tour of Europe.
All Blacks coach Scott Robertson is maintaining the party line that Sotutu, who also qualifies for Fiji, has a knee injury. However, it is an open secret that he has had talks with England boss Borthwick about playing for the Red Rose.
“We were going to bring Hoskins in, but he is injured, so we have considered that over the last couple of days. With his knee and scans, he won’t come,” revealed Robinson when talking to media in Auckland about plans for a select few members of the All Blacks XV squad to join the All Blacks in Tokyo for training for the October 26 Test versus Japan.
“Hoskins has been playing on the knee for the last four weeks. So both medical groups, Counties (Manukau) and the All Blacks, got together and decided to get through this tour is a step too far for him. He is looking at options, whether it’s rest or surgery.
Sotutu, who helped the Blues win the Super Rugby Pacific title this year, would be eligible for England in 2025 under World Rugby regulations, but he is under contract to the NZRU until the end of the following year.
Even though he isn’t available for an immediate move, the Premiership big guns have expressed an interest in signing him from his hometown Blues, where he has scored 27 tries in 67 appearances. Saracens haven’t signed anybody to fill the Billy Vunipola-shaped hole left by his departure to the Top 14 outfit Montpellier in the summer, while the Tigers lost Jasper Wiese to Japanese side Urayasu D-Rocks.
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