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'Departs with our love': Alapati Leiua leaves Bristol for Pro D2
By Liam Heagney
Bristol have confirmed that Alapati Leiua will depart the Gallagher Premiership club at the end of the season to join French Pro D2 side RC Vannes, where ex-England international Nick Abendanon is currently playing. One of Pat Lam’s first signings, Samoan international Leiua joined Bristol in 2018 and has since made 101 appearances over five seasons, scoring 26 tries.
Director of rugby Lam said: "Alapati has truly been a fantastic servant to the Bears and a leader for our culture and environment. He has made an immense contribution on and off the field, laying the foundations for the next chapter of the Bears’ journey.
“We are delighted for Alapati, his wife Carmel and son Manu about the opportunity that has come up to play in France and to experience a different culture. He can be proud of what he has achieved and the standards that he has set. He departs with our love and best wishes and will be recognised, as we do with all our leavers, on the final home game of the season versus Exeter Chiefs.”
Leiua becomes the latest player in recent weeks to have lined up a club elsewhere for next season away from Bristol. Ex-England lock Dave Attwood is heading to Bath while Antoine Frisch, the only French player in the Premiership, has secured a move to Irish club Munster.
Vannes were pipped in the playoffs last season in their attempt to reach the Top 14 but there have endured a more difficult time this season. They are currently in twelfth in the Pro D2 with two matches remaining following the loss of six recent matches on the bounce.
It was February 2021 when Abendanon told RugbyPass about his first impression at Vannes following his move from Clermont. "You can’t make a comparison between the two clubs. Clermont is one of the big European powerhouses and Vannes have come up from Federale 3 over the last ten years and are trying to progress their way into the Top 14.
“They have big plans to build a training centre at the end of this season and are putting things in place to make sure they are a very ambitious club. But the first day I came to Vannes, I rocked up and they said, ‘This is where the training ground is’. It was a couple of makeshift tents and a couple of Portakabins and I was like, ‘Oh, what the hell have I done here?’
“But it’s quite refreshing in a way. All the guys, there are no big egos. Everyone is very grounded. They work very, very hard here, they are all very ambitious, and they all want to do their best to get spotted and seen and hopefully play in the Top 14. It’s refreshing to come down a peg and re-find the love of the game, I guess.”
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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