Report: All Blacks great Ma'a Nonu set for Major League Rugby return in surprise new role
Former All Blacks star Ma'a Nonu is reportedly set to return to the United States in a move that will see him re-join the San Diego Legion as a player-coach.
Argentine site A Pleno Rugby reports that French outlet Midi Olympique has indicated Nonu is in line to return to California at the end of his current deal with Top 14 club Toulon.
The 103-test powerhouse signed for a second stint with Toulon as a medical joker last September after playing 77 times for the club between 2015 and 2018.
Since then, Nonu, who turns 39 next Friday, has featured 14 times for the French juggernauts in the Top 14 and European Champions Cup.
Off-contract at the end of the 2020-21 season, Nonu will reportedly leave the south of France to link back up with the Legion, who he played four times for during the 2020 Major League Rugby season.
During his time in the MLR, the veteran midfielder was a standout in a campaign that was cancelled after five rounds due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
Nonu would bring a wealth of experience to his role as a player-coach. With 103 tests and two World Cup crowns to his name, Nonu also won five Tri-Nations/Rugby Championships and eight Bledisloe Cups during his time with the All Blacks.
He also amassed more than 160 appearances at Super Rugby level with the Hurricanes, Blues and Highlanders, and spent time in Japan with the Ricoh Black Rams during the 2011-12 Top League season.
The position would be Nonu's first gig as a professional coach, although he served as an assistant coach for amateur club Oriental-Rongotai in Wellington as recently as last year.
Should he make the move back to San Diego, Nonu would join the like of former England captain Chris Robshaw, ex-Springboks wing Bjorn Basson and Los Pumas playmaker Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias in the Legion set-up.
San Diego currently lie in fourth place on the MLR Western Conference standings, 10 points adrift of a play-offs spot with just two wins from eight matches to their name.
Toulon, meanwhile, are in the midst of a tightly-contested battle for a place in the Top 14 play-offs, sitting in fifth place with three rounds remaining in the French domestic league.
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So spiteful that the Springboks won again, they just had to change the laws so that they would stand a chance.
Go to commentsWhy would Eben lie? The guy has achieved so much. He saw it as arrogance. Any normal person who plays against the ABs year in and year out would have the same thoughts. Why even talk about the final when you have the biggest game of your lives next week in a stage you have never gotten passed? Rugly is simple in SA. Have fun but the most important thing is respect. I’m not buying any of this misinterpreted nonsense. Eben isn’t English, but no one during that interview was asking what did he say? He's speaking and therefore his understanding is perfectly fine. It was an arrogant thing to say, esp for a team that has never been to a final, never mind a semi. You guys up north can interpret it in a different way if you wish, maybe that s why you don’t win the biggest tournaments.
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