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Reports: Former Highlander heading to England
By Online Editors
Reports have surfaced out of England stating that former Highlander and current Fiji winger Patrick Osborne will be moving to the Aviva Premiership next season.
Currently plying his trade with the Kubota Spears in Japan's Top League, Osborne has been linked with a move to the Premiership's Northampton Saints.
If the reports are true, Osborne will join current Hurricanes head coach Chris Boyd at Northampton next season.
30-year-old Osborne could potentially be used to fill the hole left by the departure of long-time Saints wing and Welsh international George North, who is expected to return home and join a Welsh Pro14 side in the near future.
Osborn would not be the first high-profile signing for the club this coming season, as the Saints have already secured the signature of another giant Fijian in Wallaby winger and current Waratah Taqele Naiyaravoro.
The club have also signed Wales flyhalf Dan Biggar and former All Blacks prop Ben Franks from 2018/2019 onwards.
Osborne had an extremely successful career in New Zealand, scooping up seven titles in as many seasons.
Osborne bounced around Super Rugby before finding a home with the Highlanders, winning a Super Rugby title with the side in 2015. He previously had two short stints with both the Crusaders and Chiefs - where he won his first Super Rugby title - after starting his provincial career with Canterbury in 2010, with whom he won five titles with.
In 2016 Osborne moved to Japan, dashing his All Blacks dream and declaring his allegiance to his native Fiji.
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To be fair it was nowhere bear the Leinster first team (for which, btw, Leinster copped nothing like the outrage that Jake White did for sending a rotated team to the UK). But it’s fun to watch the Stormers doing their thing. They are attracting big, diverse crowds of young fans, and deservedly so. Great to see.
Go to commentsIt might be legal but he’s sailing pretty close to the wind. Not a lot needs to go wrong for Finau to end up in the bin. Was it late? Not quite, but borderline. High? A couple of CM within the laws, no room for error with that one. Did he wrap the arms? There was a token effort to wrap one arm, the intent was clearly to hit with the shoulder. So yeah, it’s legal, just. But as we all know, a very slight change in the dynamics could easily have him seeing red. Hopefully not when it really matters.
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