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Ex-NZ U20 centre Tamati Tua set for preseason in England with deal done
By Neil Fissler
Exeter Chiefs have ended their long search for a new centre after signing up Tamati Tua, who has been the mainstay of the ACT Brumbies midfield for the last two seasons.
Sources from Down Under say that the former New Zealand U20 international has already jetted to Devon to join his new teammates for the start of pre-season after his commitments with the Brumbies ended.
Tua, 26, who grew up in Kaitaia at the top of New Zealand, five hours north of Auckland, started his career with Northland in the NPC in 2016 and had a couple of stints with the Blues in 2018 and 2022, making four appearances.
But it wasn’t until he moved to the Australian capital in October 2022 that the 6 ft 3 centre’s career really took off, making 29 appearances in his two Super Rugby Pacific campaigns, scoring four tries.
He made his 16th and final Super Rugby Pacific appearance last season in the Brumbies’ rain-soaked semi-final defeat to his former employer, the Blues, last month.
Tua, who can also operate at outside centre, had already told the Brumbies that he was joining the Chiefs, who moved for him as soon as they missed out on the big-money signing of Wallaby centre Hunter Paisami earlier this year.
Paisami, 26, underwent a medical and was on the cusp of a move to Sandy Park before Rugby Australia stepped in to offer a two-year deal to keep him at Queensland Reds and to send Rob Baxter back to the drawing board.
Australia has been a fertile recruitment ground for Baxter, and he quickly snapped up Tua, who has won himself a host of plaudits in Australia for the standard of his performances week in and week out in Super Rugby Pacific.
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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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