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Waratahs secure ex-Wallabies and ex-Pumas props on SOS loan deals
The NSW Waratahs have secured former Wallabies prop Pone Fa’amausili and ex-Argentine international Enrique Pieretto on loan deals as the Super Rugby Pacific strugglers battle a front-row crisis.
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Fa’amausili joins the Waratahs from the Melbourne Rebels and Pieretto from the Glasgow Warriors on a week-to-week basis.
Both players may return to their respective clubs this season if needed.
The duo’s arrival is a welcome boost for the Waratahs, who have been hit hard by injuries, particularly in the front row, with five of the club’s full-time contracted props sidelined, including Wallabies star Angus Bell.
Fa’amausili is a 27-year-old tighthead prop who was born and raised in Melbourne.
He made his provincial debut for the Rebels against the Sunwolves in 2018 at AAMI Park, before being selected for Australia for the Argentine leg of the Rugby Championship in 2022.
He was awarded his long-awaited debut for Australia in the second Pumas Test at San Juan, and has gone on to earn six further caps.
Despite arriving from Glasgow, Pieretto is no stranger to the Super Rugby competition, after enjoying a successful spell with the Jaguares in his native Argentina.
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The tighthead featured 17 times for the franchise on their run to the 2019 Super Rugby final, with New Zealand heavyweights the Crusaders denying them a historic title.
A member of Argentina’s 2019 Rugby World Cup squad, Pieretto played in the Pumas’ pool-stage victory over the USA in Kumagaya as part of a renowned scrummaging unit.
The 29-year-old was also selected for the world’s most famous invitational side in November 2019, representing the Barbarians against Fiji at Twickenham.
“Both Pone and Enrique give us experience and size in the crucial prop position where we have been hit by significant injury numbers,” said Waratahs coach Darren Coleman.
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“Both have played at the highest levels of the game and are hungry for opportunity.”
Fa’amausili’s addition is a historic one for the Super Rugby Pacific competition, as it is the first time a player-loan like this has occurred between clubs.
“A genuine thank you to both the Melbourne Rebels and the Glasgow Warriors who have worked in a very co-operative and sympathetic manner to allow this,” Coleman said.
Fa’amausili has already arrived at Waratahs HQ for training this week and is in line for selection against the ACT Brumbies at Allianz Stadium on Saturday.
Pieretto will arrive from Scotland on Thursday after his visa application was approved on Monday.
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Comments on RugbyPass
A distinct discomfort with the officiating they were probably selected from the local IRA narcos branch along with the commentators bloody fly tippers.
1 Go to commentsWow, never thought I would read that
1 Go to commentsExcellent match. Great to see Keenan and Ryan back for Leinster. Super result for Ulster. Season is turning around.
1 Go to comments“We need eight or nine new players, who are hard-wearing and durable and experienced Premiership performers”. So why are they scouting a retired fullback who himself admits that his “body is broken”?
1 Go to commentsBrumbies hand, knocked a Crusaders hand. Therefore, knock on in goal. Crusaders, goal line drop out should’ve been awarded. most likely after that 24 each at full time, so extra time would’ve been the right an entertaining outcome. Act Jim
1 Go to commentsSpeell cehck
1 Go to commentsColeman is gaawwwwnnn.
1 Go to commentsnext SA head coach?
3 Go to commentsGreat try by van Poortvliet.
1 Go to commentsThey have been cruelled by injuries but almost nobody (Sevu Reece and Fletcher Newell big exceptions) has played above himself which regularly happened before. Surely Scott Robertson had maintained the recruitment programme and it looks like a reasonable squad. Last in this competition will stall a lot of careers. Penny seems likeable. But it’s not enough even though this was better. We haven’t been good enough and it’s not helped by the “it’s been 15 years since… “etc “after nearly every match. Seems somehow a soft gifting of something once valuable. Kieran Read giving comments last week almost choked describing the easy surrender of possession by the forwards. I’d love to think that the senior players some of whom are back can show enough pride in the jersey to test the Blues next week.
3 Go to commentsWho will Joe select for the back three with so many in form candidates? Just hope he doesn’t get shafted like Dave Rennie and to a lesser extent Deans.
6 Go to commentsAlways reluctant to blame a coach when losses rack up, but Penney must go. The backline is dysfunctional and the coach must carry the can. No cohesion, no idea and in many cases, minimal skill. The trains out of Roma St depart faster than the ball from Crusaders’ set pieces. Wouldn’t be surprised if the forwards went on strike.
3 Go to commentsAdding to earlier comment. Cullen Grace has been playing great at no6. Lio-Willie , who was on fire a few weeks ago, had a bad game. I think Cullen should have been moved to 8 earlier, Dominic Gardiner on earlier. Feel for Quinten Strange , put in a big shift .
6 Go to commentsWe dominated the scrums Ben Curry was all over pitch again .Surely James Harper got to be one of best English tightheads
1 Go to commentsRoos is a better option at 6 than 8 for the boks. Needs to work on his windgat though.
1 Go to commentsThe Sharks’ 2nd team maybe?
1 Go to comments‘radical’
1 Go to commentsCome back to Christchurch Robbie, please!
1 Go to commentsI think there is zero chance Sam Cane will be selected for another Test. There is simply no point except sentimentality. Razor is not sentimental- ask Wyatt Crocket. Razor is a ruthless selector
5 Go to comments> It would be best described as an elegant solution to what was potentially going to be a significant problem for new All Blacks coach Scott Robertson. It is a problem the mad population of New Zealand will have to cope with more and more as All Blacks are able to continue their careers in NZ post RWCs. It will not be a problem for coaches, who are always going to start a campaign with the captain for the next WC in mind. > Cane, despite his warrior spirit, his undoubted commitment to every team he played for and unforgettable heroics against Ireland in last year’s World Cup quarter-final, was never unanimously admired or respected within New Zealand while he was in the role. Neither was McCaw, he was considered far too passive a captain and then out of form until his last world cup where everyone opinions changed, just like they would have if Cane had won the WC. > It was never easy to see where Cane, or even if, he would fit into Robertson’s squad given the new coach will want to be building a new-look team with 2027 in mind. > Cane will win his selections on merit and come the end of the year, he’ll sign off, he hopes, with 100 caps and maybe even, at last, universal public appreciation for what was a special career. No, he won’t. Those returning from Japan have already earned the right to retain their jersey, it’s in their contract. Cane would have been playing against England if he was ready, and found it very hard to keep his place. Perform, and they keep it however. Very easy to see where Cane could have fit, very hard to see how he could have accomplished it choosing this year as his sabbatical instead of 2025, and that’s how it played out (though I assume we now know what when NZR said they were allowing him to move his sabbatical forward and return to NZ next year, they had actually agreed to simply select him for the All Blacks from overseas, without any chance he was going to play in NZ again). With a mammoth season of 15 All Black games they might as well get some value out of his years contract, though even with him being of equal character to Richie, I don’t think they should guarantee him his 100 caps. That’s not what the All Blacks should be about. He absolutely has to play winning football.
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