Leinster face competition from Top 14 to sign Taniela Tupou - report
Australia tighthead prop Taniela Tupou has been approached by Top 14 outfit Montpellier, according to French outlet Midi Olympique.
The 2022 Top 14 champions have joined Leinster in their pursuit of the 50-cap international, after reports emerged last week from Australia that the Irish giants are interested in replacing Michael Ala'alatoa with Tupou.
With Tupou's current club, the Melbourne Rebels, facing an uncertain future beyond this current Super Rugby Pacific season, European clubs look poised to pounce on the opportunity to offer him a deal at the end of the season. This is despite the 27-year-old being contracted to Rugby Australia until 2025, the same year the Wallabies are set to face the British & Irish Lions.
Montpellier appear to be assembling a formidable pack ahead of next season with France tighthead Mohamed Haouas linked with a return, and with the announcement of England No8 Billy Vunipola's arrival expected imminently. That is to add to a pack that is not exactly lacking for size at the moment, with the likes of France lock Paul Willemse and former England tighthead Harry Williams on their books.
Despite this recruitment drive ahead of next season, Montpellier's priority will be to survive this current campaign in the Top 14, where they sit second from bottom following a 54-7 loss to Toulon on Saturday. As it stands, they will have to face the play-off winner in the ProD2 (the league below) in order to remain in the league.
Things are not going much better for Tupou in Melbourne, where he has not made the impact he would have wanted after signing from the Reds for this new season. He started on the bench in the 54-28 loss to the Hurricanes on Friday after failing to even make it to half time the week before against his former side.
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All of these media pundits always miss the obvious whenever they analyse what is ailing or assisting the game. Rugby always has contentious points for debate when picking apart individual games and finding fault with itself. All this focus and scrutiny on “speeding up the game”, “high ball in play” etc is all contextual to the fan. As a tv viewer, if you’re absorbed into a game, regardless if your team is playing or not, more ball in play time and action are all byproducts of the contest. A good contest subliminally affects your memory in selectively remembering all the good aspects. A poor contest and your brain has switched off because its a blowout and the result is never in doubt or it’s a real chore to watch and remain engaged throughout. The URC, Top 14 and English premiership are all competitions that feel like there’s real jeopardy each week. The dominance of Super rugby by NZ teams was unhealthy from a sustainable interest perspective. You can’t fault those teams or the players, but the lack of competitions won by SA and Australian teams long term was always going to test the faith and patience of die-hard and casual fans from those regions. SANZAR took their eye off the fans and fans voted with their feet and subscriptions. They were so concerned about expanding their product they forgot the golden rule about broadcasting live sport. Viewers tune in more when there’s an atmosphere and a true contest. You need to fill stadiums to create one, host unions need to do more to service ticket buyers, and this year proves the other, there’s more interest in Super rugby this year only because more games are competitive with less foregone conclusions. All these micro statistics bandied about, only interest the bean counters and trainspotters.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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