Irish club wins race to sign former Crusader Oli Jager – report
Former Crusaders prop Oli Jager is off to defending URC champions Munster, with The Irish Times reporting that the club are set to announce the signing early next week.
Jager, 28, was a surprise omission from the Crusaders’ squad for the upcoming Super Rugby Pacific season. The Irishman started all three knockout matches for the ‘Saders this year, which included a try against the Fijian Drua in the quarter-finals.
But, as the Crusaders prepare to usher in a new era without Scott Roberton, it’s been reported in New Zealand that the All Blacks hopeful has been granted an early release to pursue another opportunity.
While the London-born prop was linked with a move to Leinster - with Samoan tighthead Michael Alaalatoa reportedly signing with French club Clermont - Jager has reportedly signed with an Irish rival.
Munster have won the race for Jager's signature. The Irish Times has revealed that coach Graham Rowntree will be keen to call on Jager’s services at tighthead prop “as quickly as possible.”
But the opportunity to return to Ireland closes the door on Jager’s All Blacks dream. The Super Rugby champion has made no secret about his desire to wear the black jersey, despite also qualifying for England and Ireland.
“Obviously being from Ireland, born in England, growing up in the northern hemisphere you hear of everyone coming up from the southern hemisphere to England, Ireland,” Jager told RugbyPass in 2022.
“Everyone in the northern hemisphere has had a couple of players play up there, the Bundee Akis, the (Riki) Fluteys, all those players.
“You never hear really the other way around and it’s a pretty cool thing to be able to have the chance of doing it – but doing it is a whole other story. I feel like I need to get a lot better, really focus my game a lot more.
“But at the moment to answer your question, I would probably like to see myself as an All Black ahead of Ireland.”
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After a fairly simple Pac4, the BFs will find out a lot about themselves in September when they face the rampaging RedRoses at Twickenham in front of a record crowd. After that they will face them again in Canada in WXV1. They also have France to contend with. Will be interesting to see what Australia have to offer with Jo Yapp at the helm.
Go to commentsSuper Rugby Pacific has been better as a spectacle due to the emphasis on speeding the game up and I’d look at taking things a step further. Instead of giving teams 90 seconds to take a conversion, let’s bring that down 60 seconds. You could also look at allowing 45 seconds for a penalty goal. Maybe teams could get 20 seconds instead of 30 to form a scrum before the ref then starts the engagement process. However, this year the most pleasing change is the added competitiveness in the Trans Tasman matches. What does frustrate me is how the rugby media in Australasia allow the the whole ‘‘rugby is boring’’/’’rugby yawnion’’ narrative to take hold from from vindictive league types, the chairman of the ARL commission and News Limited Australia. Stick up for the game and shift the narrative!
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