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Ex-Wallaby bad boy Tolu Latu officially switches Top 14 clubs
By Ian Cameron
La Rochelle has announced the immediate loan signing of Australian hooker Tolu Latu from Montpellier, bolstering Ronan O'Gara's side's options in a position currently hit by injuries.
Latu, 30, will provide much-needed cover for the injured Pierre Bourgarit and Quentin Lespiaucq, while also supporting the development of rookie hooker Sacha Idoumi.
Latu, who has featured in six Top 14 matches this season for Montpellier, while highly rated has also drawn attention for his indiscipline on and off the field.
His track record includes a recent red card and several yellows. This issue of discipline has been a recurring theme throughout his career, including his previous stint at Stade Français.
During his time with Stade Français Latu made a significant impact, scoring six tries across 48 matches. However, his on positive contributions were often overshadowed by disciplinary interruptions, including eight yellow cards and two reds.
Stade Francais eventually lost patience with Latu in April of last year after he was handed an 11-match ban, and both he and the Parisian club parted ways.
He spent a truncated Super Rugby Pacific season with the Waratahs before returning to France with Montpellier at the start of this season.
Off the field, Latu's conduct has also been problematic. He has been caught drink-driving twice, once each in France and Australia.
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Latest Comments
What’s new its a common occurrence, just the journos out there expecting a negative spin. The outcome will be beneficial to jordie and Leinster. The home grown lads hav got some experience to step up to and be more competitive, that or spend the 6 months keeping the bench warm.
Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
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