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O'Gara's La Rochelle pick up Samoan hooker on short-term deal
By Ian Cameron
Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle have signed former London Irish hooker Motu Matu'u on a short-term deal.
The Samoan international was released by London Irish at the end of last season and will join the Black and Yellows as a replacement for Argentinian hooker Facundo Bosch, who is set to feature for the Pumas during the Rugby Championship.
Standing at 6'1 and tipping the scales at 17 stone, the 34-year-old made 46 appearances for Gloucester including an outing in their 2018 European Rugby Challenge Cup final against Cardiff Blues in Bilbao.
Bringing 22 Samoa caps to the table, the dynamic No.2 burst onto the scene in 2011 with Super Rugby side the Hurricanes where he played 45 times between 2011 and 2016. Competing with experienced All Black Dane Coles for a starting berth, Matu’u crossed the whitewash on three occasions for the New Zealand-based franchise, earning himself a seat on the plane to the 2015 Rugby World Cup with Samoa.
Matu'u is not the only new addition. There's been plenty of change at La Rochelle behind the scenes since they lost the Heineken Champions Cup final against Toulouse earlier this year.
O'Gara has taken over the reins as head coach and chosen fellow Munster man Donnacha Ryan to join him as forwards coach.
The former second row who won 47 Ireland caps prior to joining Racing 92 in 2017 retired from playing earlier this year and has jumped straight into high-level coaching. He will coach the forwards alongside Romain Carmignani, while Sébastien Boboul takes over the backs division.
They will also be able to rely on the expertise of former Springbok prop Guthro Steenkamp, who takes over as scrum coach.
With 53 caps to his name, the former Springbok won a Rugby World Cup in 2007 and won two Brennus Shields while at Toulouse before hanging up his boots.
Overseeing all this will be Director of Rugby, Robert Mohr, who will be in charge of recruitment.
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The match experience still sucks at SR games, irrespective of the game being a little quicker. Rugby has to compete with so much in the modern world, if you’re going to get people to leave their houses and pay to watch a game in winter then the experience has to be worthwhile.
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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