SARACENS HAVE CONFIRMED the signing of Italy international back row Samuela Vunisa ahead of next season.
The Fiji-born powerhouse becomes the latest player to leave the Guinness Pro12, having been with Italian outfit Zebre since 2013.
Vunisa originally moved to Italy in 2011 to join domestic side Calvisano, for whom he stood out as a potent try-scoring threat from number eight, crossing the whitewash 19 times in 41 games and earning his move to Zebre.
The former Taranaki man qualified to play for Italy under residency rules last year and made his debut against South Africa in the November Tests. He has also featured off the bench for the Italians in the recent Six Nations meetings with England and Scotland.
Vunisa will bring his powerful ball-carrying to Saracens next season, linking up with the likes of Mako and Billy Vunipola to bolster the Aviva Premiership side’s attacking threat.
Saracens’ Irish director of rugby, Mark McCall, welcomed his club’s new signing.
Samu has clearly made a strong impression in his appearances for Italy and his strong running and ball carrying ability are valuable assets in the modern game,” the former Ireland international told Premiership Rugby.
“We look forward to welcoming him and his wife to the club in July.”
Saracens are currently second in the Premiership, 12 points behind leaders Northampton, while they will travel to Racing Métro on 5 April for their Champions Cup quarter-final.
I love reading stories like this. For all the fantastic players that have come through the schools system, the majority started off life in the club system. It’s a testament to the players, coaches, parents, committees who put in the hard work in keeping these clubs going
Great story. There are large areas of the country that are open to this type of development.
@kieran horgan: Completely agree. When youngsters playing in less traditional areas see those a few years ahead of them feature in provincial and national squads, it will hopefully boost rugby in those areas. Look at Munster and West Cork, in the last number of years alone there’s been the 2 Coombes, 2 Wycherleys, Crowley, Hodnett, Hurley. Plenty of untapped areas to be explored
@Niall Boyle: Farmer strength is a term often used. You know what it means when you’ve played against it be it in Gaelic or Rugby. It would be fertile ground for rugby players if the seeds are planted particularly forwards. It’s also part of what makes NZ rugby
@Michael Corkery: farmer strength is something that applies only in the amatuer arena. Kids from farming backgrounds in NZ( also SA and Aus) who are decent at rugby with a view to the Pro’s, generally head off to boarding school for secondary, unless they’re commutable distance to bigger towns/cities. They develop physically using modern development practices, not shifting bales by hand…
@Sea Point: True, the bales of hay and tractor tyres have been replaced by dumb bells and Creatine.
@Sea Point: rubbish, certain people have natural strength which has been acquired during generations and their youth as they needed to have it for their livelihood. Of course, that alone is a base strength that is built on when they get into a more professional setup be it a private school or academy.
@Niall Boyle: and Mike Ross before them
Great to see, jj returning and possibly 2 good lads getting into the academy will be great for munster and the kingdom.
@Treaty Jim: would love to see Jack Daly get a run without injury disruption also
@Niall Boyle: totally agree.
@Niall Boyle: Doesn’t look great for Jack, ‘last chance saloon’ maybe.
The Blackrock catchment area is pretty large…
Kudos to their scouts, but I thought that there was a Leinster School’s rule about how long a player had to be in a school before playing for their SCT?
@Phil O’ Meara: Kerry is part of cork too. These powerful schools always find a way around these “rules”
@Phil O’ Meara: Would be interesting to know what discussions took place that resulted in O’Sullivan ending up at Blackrock, rather than another Leinster school or a Cork or Limerick school. However I think the rule to which you refer (and stopped Dylan McNeice playing for St Michael’s this year) is to stop Leinster schools poaching from each other. The previous school can give permission for their former pupil to play for his new one. Doesn’t apply in this case where it seems that everyone’s a winner
@Kevin Ryan: Everyone bar Terenure!
Jaysus Whitehouse is a painful ref