THE 42-YEAR-OLD former New Zealand centre Ma’a Nonu has signed as medical cover until the end of the season for Toulon, where he has already played twice, the French Top 14 side announced.
A two-time world champion in 2011 and 2015, Nonu will be filling in for Setariki Tuicuvu, Gabin Villiere and Antoine Frisch, all of whom were injured and absent from Saturday’s 24-6 win over Stade Francais.
“Because a season is played out to the end and to compensate for certain long-term absences, Toulon will be able to count on an experienced reinforcement to accompany the squad over the coming weeks,” said the club in a social media post accompanied by a video showing team manager Mathieu Bastareaud handing Nonu a No 12 jersey.
𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 👋 @maavelous is back as a medical joker until the end of the season 💪🔴⚫️ #ComeOnToulon pic.twitter.com/GhKjShIEkC
— RCT - RC Toulon (@RCT_English) February 25, 2025
Nonu played 103 times for the All Blacks before joining Toulon between 2015-2018, during which time he started alongside Bastareaud in the Top 14 final defeat to Clermont in 2017.
After leaving for New Zealand and the United States in 2018, he returned to Toulon for the 2020-2021 season, before playing for San Diego Legion in Major League Rugby.
Toulon are currently second in the Top 14 with Nonu, now the oldest person in the league, in line to make his third debut for the club at Lyon on Saturday.
Only beating Malta by two goals is embarrassing
I’m glad Southgate got the job. He’s a useless pr*** and the best thing you can say about him is he is Allardyce’s sloppy seconds. A sad comment on the quality of English managers.
He is only caretaker manager as there wasn’t enough time to find a long term replacement before these games. Calm down.
@Chocolatito: It’s not embarrassing at all. Malta rarely get hammered by teams, in the last year they’ve only lost by one goal in games against Croatia, Italy and Austria. The reason they got hammered by Scotland was because they had a player unfairly sent off and fell apart from there.
No. It is embarrassing. It’s f***ing embarrassing. Malta’s top player only played today because he got someone else to cover his postman’s round. To be fair. Any team Rooney can get into now has to be shite.
When was the last time Rooney had a good game? If he played for a smaller club there’s no way he’d be playing for England.
They’re gonna win the WC now again
Had England -2 in an accum tks you sh#t head
Ah Ryano ya may aswell have given me your money
Had a big win during the week Al put a lot of it on an accum and the English let me down, typical
Bookie always wins Ryano
Your right Al, keeps ya interested in the boring games .
Nelson haha